


Love is Strong

by CommanderGay



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Army, Alternate Universe - Military, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, F/F, Fluff, I'll be adding characters as they're introduced, Smut, buckle up for the ride, i kinda don't really know where I'm going with this, it might get a little dark, like a lot a little, might be a lot idk, not sure how much smut yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-05-18 22:10:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 49,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5944981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommanderGay/pseuds/CommanderGay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lexa and friends go to the club one night and meets (and hooks up) with Clarke. What could have been just one night of fun turns into a lot more than either expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I've had this story idea in my head for a while now and figured I'd try and make it happen. Kind of don't know where I'm going with it, but I have bits and pieces of what I want to do in my head so I'm sure it'll all fit into place.

"Beer." Lexa says from the door to her room.

 

"Beer." Anya repeats, opening the refrigerator and tossing a can of beer to her. Lexa catches it one handed and strides back into her room, popping the tab open and taking a swig.

"Tie or no tie?" Lexa shouts from her closet.

"Not unless you want some drunk chick dragging you away from us like last time." Costia says from her bedroom.

"Wear it!" Anya says from the kitchen still. "That was the highlight of that night!"

Lexa rolls her eyes, though Anya can't see it. "No tie it is. Good lookin' out, Cos." She leaves her room to find Anya sitting on the couch lounging with a beer in her hand. Costia pops her head out from the entrance of her room, only one eye made up.

"I _am_ the better friend after all, Lex." She says with a smirk as she looks from Lexa to Anya before Lexa walks to the bathroom.

Anya snorts. "More like the boring friend."

As the two other girls bicker together as usual, Lexa checks herself out in the mirror in the bathroom. She's wearing semi-skinny black jeans, black high top canvas shoes, a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and her hair let down in loose braids. Unlike her friends she shared the barracks with who took about thirty minutes each putting makeup on their entire face every day, Lexa only sports her favorite black eyeliner style, which was the only makeup she ever really wore. And only because every time she'd wear it, people would tell her how it made her eyes really _pop_.

She nods her head approvingly at her reflection before chugging half of her beer and joining Anya on the couch.

"Almost done there, Cos?" Lexa asks.

"Almost" Costia sings.

A few minutes later, Costia comes out of her bedroom, makeup fully on and wearing skin tight dark jeans to show off her nice ass and a low cut white dress shirt accessorized with a nice silver (and also low hanging) necklace. Her heels are very high, but she always carries flats in her purse for when her feet can't bare anymore. Her black hair is straightened and falls down to the middle of her back. Her makeup goes perfect with her outfit and suits her caramel skin stunningly.

"Lex, sweetie," Anya says. "Your jaw is on the ground." She puts her hand under Lexa's jaw and closes her mouth for her and Lexa realizes she was starring.

Lexa pulls herself together and swats Anya's hand away. "Fuck off, An." And Anya is laughing.

"How do I look?" Costia asks even though she already knows. She poses and brings her arms above her head dramatically.

"Hot as always." Anya says, rolling her eyes and joining her friend in the open room. "Tone it down for once so the rest of us _ordinary_ girls with you can get some guys' attention too."

"Oh hush," Lexa laughs, standing across from them and grabbing her wallet. "You're _both_ hot. Do _I_ look okay?"

"Gayer than ever, Lex." Anya says. "If I didn't know you, I'd try and jump your bones."

Lexa chuckles and shakes her head at her taller friend. Anya is wearing a very short black dress that does her curves quite well (Lexa thanks the Gods for giving her friends such great assets) and added black leggings to keep from revealing too much when she was too drunk to care later in the night. Being thoughtful of her much shorter friends (and her feet), Anya opted for flats. Her hair starts off in French braids against her head, but is tied up in the back fashionably.

"Are we ready to go then?" Lexa asks, tossing her wallet to Anya, who catches it and stuffs it in her small purse. Lexa already knows the answer is no before the question even fully leaves her lips. She knows the answer before she even asks, but she does anyway.

"No!" Costia says, pulling her phone from her purse. "Pre-drunk pictures, Lex!"

They spend nearly ten minutes taking pictures of one another: single pictures, coupled pictures, group pictures, until Lexa groans impatiently. "Everyone's going to be there by the time we leave! Come one!"

"Alright, alright, jeeze." Costia grumbles, stuffing her phone back into her purse. "Let's go already." Lexa makes sure to finish her beer before she follows her friends out of the room.

They've done this enough times to know it's better to pay extra for an Uber then to drive downtown because on a Saturday night, it would take far too long to find parking. Not to mention they hadn't established who would be the DD, therefore it was a given that none of them would be. It takes about an hour to reach downtown and when they do, it's Lexa's card that paid for the Uber. It was Costia's turn last night and next time will be Anya's.

The Uber lets them off a block and a half from the club and it's decided quickly that they need another drink for the walk. Downtown always calls for their favorite place: The Station.

"Three Call-A-Cabs, please." Costia says to the bartender with her most flirtatious smile. Lexa and Anya exchange knowing looks: she's already at it.

The bartender pours red slushy into three cups and hands them to the girls as Costia hands him the money. "First drink is on me, ladies." She says with a killer smile.

Lexa takes a swig of the frozen drink and feels the burn of the strong alcohol down her throat mixed with the burn of the cold beverage. There's a reason it's called a Call-A-Cab. A few of these suckers and you'll surely need to do so. Lexa and her crew had some experience with that a few times before.

Finishing their drinks right when they reach the club, the girls take one look at the building in front of them that reads 'Mount Weather' and walk in, showing their IDs to the bouncer and receiving neon orange wristbands. The club is packed with people dancing and drinking and talking. Lexa, never being here before, takes in the sight of the dark room lit up by black lights, lasers, and multi-colored strobes that roamed around the floor. The bar is long, taking up a full length of one wall and half of another. The walls behind the bar are lined with so many flavors and brands and kinds of alcohol that are lit up by the black lights.

We Run The Night starts blasting through the speakers and Costia immediately starts dancing. "Come on, let's go find everyone!" she yells over the music and grabs Lexa's hand to drag her through the crowd as she dances.

It isn't long before they spot everyone. And by everyone, they mean _everyone_ : the whole damn base seemed to be here tonight. They weren't all together, but the multiple groups of them seemed to merge and separate every now and then.

"Lincoln!" Anya yells to the tall guy rocking side to side to the music in the muddle of one of the groups. He looks around to find who called him and spots them pushing toward him. His smile grows wide. "About time!" He yells, pulling Lexa into the middle of the group. "What took so long?"

Lexa rolls her eyes. "What do you think?"

A booming laugh draws their attention to their left as a big brawly man joins the conversation. "Of course, it had to be Monari and Reid!"

"So this is the eighteen-and-up club I've been hearing so much about?" Lexa says, taking in her surroundings again.

"Yeah, so if you wanna buy someone a drink, make sure they don't have a black 'X' drawn on their hand." Monroe says, squeezing through the horde of people to them.

"Shouldn't _you_ have one then?" Lexa asks, eyebrow raised amusedly at Monroe's lack of black 'X'.

Monroe's cheeky smile forms as she says, "I know a chick that works here."

"Of course you do." Indra slaps a hand onto Monroe's shoulder after she passes Lexa.

"Looks like we're not the last ones to show up." Lexa says.

"I was at TonDC with some people." Indra explains.

"Are we just gonna talk or are we gonna drink?" Anya says, pushing Lexa toward the bar. "This round is on Linc." She yells back with a smirk.

At the bar Anya brings up eight fingers and shouts, "Eight Kamikazes." The bartender does as requested, skillfully pouring liquids into eight shot glasses before sliding them across the counter to the waiting girls. "Put it on  _his_ tab." Anya shouts, pointing toward Lincoln. The bartender nods and Lexa and Anya each carry four glasses back to the group.

"Here's to a good ass night!" Costia yells when all shots are dispersed.

"Hopefully at least _one_ of us gets laid tonight!" Anya says. "And not Monroe or Reid! Let us less fortunate people have a chance this time, dammit!"

"Let's get fucked up!" Monroe screams and even people around them shout their drunken agreements as the eight of them throw back their green shots.

"You kids make me feel young again." Gustus chuckles as they place their empty glasses on the tray of a passing worker.

Almost immediately after their first round of shots, they finish their second. It wasn't long until most of them were at least tipsy and dancing in the middle of the dancefloor. It wasn't much longer after _that_ that they lost Monroe to the chance of sloppy bathroom sex with a girl she'd been making out with for a good ten minutes before and Costia was grinding against some guy on the stage so hard they actually became conjoined crotch-to-thigh. Anya, Lexa, Echo, and Lincoln are dancing together until Echo calls for another round of shots and Lexa find herself dragging Gustus with her to bar.

"Six Fireballs." Lexa shouts to the bartender. It's when the girl is pouring the shots that Lexa looks down the length of the bar to see an agitated blonde, hair glowing under the black lights, and a guy not getting the message. "You know what? Let me get a Rum and Coke." Gustus looks at her curiously before following her gaze.

"I see." He says, balancing the six shots in this hands. "I'm sure Anya will take the extra shot." He starts walking off before shouting amusedly. "Or maybe the _M_ _ajor_ would like to take it with us!" And he bellows out his laugh as he disappears into the packed dancefloor again.

"Here ya go, cutie." The bartender says, giving Lexa a wink as she hands her the drink. Lexa give her a charming smile and hands her the money before heading over to the glowing haired girl who is starting to look more and more uncomfortable.

"Hey babe, sorry I took so long with the drink." Lexa starts as she stands beside the girl and brings the drink up between them. "The bartender was a little busy."

The girl looks from Lexa to the drink in bewilderment. Lexa gives her an insisting look and the girl slowly takes the drink, understanding starting to fill her eyes. A sweet smile spreads across her ace as she looks up at Lexa. "It's okay. It wasn't too long of a wait." And she snakes her arm around Lexa's waist.

Lexa looks back at the man in front of them as she also puts her own arm around then girl's waist. "This guy bothering you?" she asks the girl, who she notices is pretending to take a sip of the drink Lexa gave her. _Smart girl_ , Lexa thinks.

"No, no, I'm not bothering." The guys says. "I was just telling your.. your _girlfriend_ that she's very beautiful."

"Yes," Lexa says with a combination smile and glare. "I think I tell her that enough so you don't have to."

The guy nods and puts his hands up submissively. "Alright, alright, my bad. You ladies have a good night."

Lexa follows the man with her eyes until he's out of sight before she lets go of the girl beside her.

"Thank you so much." The blonde says, pulling away as well to face Lexa. She hands her back the drink. "Seriously, the guy was on extra creep mode."

Lexa laughs. "It's nothing. I saw from across the bar, and I do that for my friends all the time, so I thought I'd save you."

"You definitely saved me." The other girl says, a cute laugh emitting just loud enough for Lexa to hear. She glances at the girl's hands to find them clean.

"Can I buy you a drink?" Lexa asks.

" _I_ should be buying _you_ a drink, but I see you already have one."

Lexa brings the rim of her cup to her lips and finishes the entire drink in four hard swallows, ignoring the burn in her throat. That drink would definitely hit her in a bit. "I'll buy the next round?" It was more of a question than a statement, hoping the blonde would accept. The place was dim, but thanks to the blue glow of the black lights, Lexa can see the girls face and she likes what she sees.

The other girl smiles as she looks Lexa up and down. "Alright."

Lexa waves the bartender over. "What would you like to drink then?"

"I came over her to get some shots for me and my friends," She looks around the room, searching for her friends before looking back at Lexa with a teasing smirk. "But I seemed to have lost them, so you'll have to do."

"Lucky me." Lexa smiles back. "Two Lemon Drops." She tells the bartender.

The two take the shots and follow them with the lemon slices given to them. All the drinks Lexa had had with her friends and the two she'd had with this girl were definitely in effect. She could tell the blonde had a lot more than just the Lemon Drop they just took too. For Lexa, the room was spinning and rocking and laughs were coming easily now.

"I'm Clarke." The blonde says after some shared conversation.

"Lexa." Lexa says with a smile from hearing Clarke's name.

"Does that smile always get you girls?" Clarke asks cheekily.

Lexa exaggerates her shrug with an expression of deep thought. "Eh, about three-fourths of the time." She looks back down at Clarke and the two burst into laughter. "Is it working for you?" Yep, the drinks had definitely hit her now.

Clarke looks Lexa up and down again but doesn't reply. "How bout that second drink then? What were you drinking before?"

"Vodka Sprite." Clarke smirks. Lexa orders two. They finish their drinks with meaningless conversation. The DJ soon plays a song Clarke can't seem to be able to just stand still with and Lexa finds herself being dragged to the dancefloor.

Alcohol running through her veins, Lexa has no problem dancing to the beat with this hot girl she had just met, and Clarke is not shy. The blonde quickly dances into Lexa's personal space until their bodies are touching in just about every spot. A few songs into the dancing and Lexa is practically dripping in arousal along with sweat. It's made worse when Buttons comes on and Clarke takes the sexual song to mean it's time to turn it up a notch. (Or six)

Clarke rolls her body against Lexa before really grinding against her and Lexa swears she sees stars. Lexa had been a good girl this whole time, keeping her hands mostly to herself, but this was just _too much_. Her hands find their way to Clarke's waist and she pulls her in closer (if that was even possible). She sees the devilish smile on Clarke's face as she wraps her arms around Lexa's neck. Lexa's hands slide back toward Clarke's ass and follows Clarke's grinding rhythm. Clarke spins around, her back now against Lexa's front and pushes her ass into her crotch, throwing her head back to rest on Lexa's shoulder as she continued to dance on her. One of her hands grips at Lexa's waist and the other reaches back to grab the back of her neck. Lexa's hands grip tightly on either side of Clarke's waist. Damn she was horny as fuck!

Lexa rolls her head forward and finds Clarke's neck. She rests her face against Clarke's sweaty neck and bites down on her bottom lip. If Clarke doesn't let up on her soon, she might just take her in the middle of the dancefloor. Lexa's fighting with everything she has to not do anything that would cross the line, but she's drunk and eventually that wins over everything. She kisses Clarke's neck softly at first, but with the blonde's heavy sigh, Lexa kisses harder, sucking the skin into her mouth and biting down almost too hard before releasing it and running her tongue over what she expects to be a red spot that will probably bruise.

Clarke spins around and wraps her arms around Lexa's neck again, never missing a beat to the song blaring through the speakers. That teasing smile she'd had on this whole time is replaced with an open mouthed, heavy lidded, lustful expression. She pulls herself up closer to Lexa's face until she's just a hair away, tempting the taller girl to make her move. Lexa can feel Clarke's hot breath hit in her every exhale, can smell the vodka on her lips, can practically _taste_ the arousal. But she doesn't move to initiate the kiss.

Clarke moves forward. But instead of feeling Clarke's lips on her own, she feels them on her ear as she whispers, "Let's get out of here." huskily and _holy shit_ was it hot as fuck. Lexa merely nods her head as her breath sticks in her throat and Clarke takes her hand and pulls her along.

***

Lexa has no idea how they got to what she guesses is Clarke's apartment, but after drunkenly climbing a flight of stairs and sucking on the back of Clarke's neck as she fumbled to unlock the front door, they find themselves barely inside before Lexa is pinning Clarke to the wall and kissing her hungrily. They had completely bypassed closed-mouth kissing and went straight for the jackpot, tongues fighting each other to get the upper hand. Clarke lets out a moan when Lexa bites down on her bottom lip and starts pulling them toward her room. At the first door they hit, Lexa opens it and starts pushing them in.

Clarke stops and pulls their lips apart to speak, breathing heavily. "Not this one. This is my roommate's room." And she locks back onto Lexa's lips as she pushes her past the living room and down the hall until they reach her bedroom.

Once in the room, clothes is impatiently pulled off and hands wander even more and Lexa leads Clarke to the bed until she's on top of her and kissing every inch of her body. Clarke is moaning and fighting for breath, but Lexa is teasing her and avoiding that one spot Clarke needs her. Clarke pulls her back up and slams her lips to Lexa's, inhaling heavily through her nose as she grinds her pelvis into Lexa's thigh above her. She breaks from the kiss to let out a long moan and Lexa latches onto her neck.

Clarke laughs and Lexa looks up at her with arched brows. "What's so funny?"

"I never would have imagined _this_ being how I'd start off my birthday."

"It's your birthday?" Lexa asks, a crooked mischievous smile on her face that doesn't go unnoticed by Clarke. "I'll make sure we start it off pleasingly." She slips her fingers down until they hit heat and wetness and a groan rips through Clarke's throat.

***

Lexa's woken by a ringing noise far too early in the morning. When her eyes open, she's greeted by a mess of blonde hair in her face and a body under her arm. She doesn't have much time to react before the ringing catches her attention again and she realizes it's her phone's message notification. She rolls to her other side until she's at the edge of the bed and reaches out for her pants, which are (thankfully) on the floor right beside the bed. She pulls her phone from the back pocket and the throbbing in her head hits her like a bulldozer. Groaning quietly as to not wake the girl beside her ( _is she even alive?_ ), she looks at the phone screen to see five missed calls and four texts. Two of the calls are from Costia and the other three are from Anya. The texts are all Anya's.

**From Anya:** where are you???

**From Anya:** mandatory meeting this morning

**From Anya:** i think we're in trouble for last night

**From Anya:** if you're dead i suggest you become un dead now and get your ass back here or 1SG is going to kill you harder. you got about an hour left

"Shit." Lexa groans. She climbs out of the bed and starts her search for her clothes. She would have entertained the fact that she found her shirt hanging from the closet door handle, but knowing that if she missed or was late to this meeting the First Sergeant would have her head on a platter kept her focus on the task of leaving immediately.

She grunts as she slips her jeans back on (without underwear since she can't seem to find where they are) and turns to leave but stops short and turns to look at the blonde. The girl is still knocked out even after the noise Lexa had tried (and failed) not to make. She is lying on her stomach with her back visible as the blanket was only draped around her waist. Her hair covers most of her face, but Lexa could see the peaceful look on what she could see of her face. Her shoulder is sprinkled with a few small red patches the size of Lexa's mouth. One of her arms hangs off the side of the bed and the other is hidden under her pillow. Lexa looks at the girl for a long moment until going to her desk and taking the sticky note stack from the top.

***

"Where the _hell_ have you been??" Anya asks from the bathroom where she's fixing her hair.

Lexa groans, rubbing her temples to soothe the hard throbbing as she rushes to her room to change. "Now is not the time, An. When do we need to be there?"

"In like five minutes." Anya says when Lexa joins her in the bathroom. "Better get this shit done quick before Cos comes back in to throw up. It's not pretty."

"I've got nothing left to throw up." Costia groans as she joins the other two at the sink. She leans closer to Lexa to get her toothbrush and wrinkles her nose. "Scratch that. I'm sure my stomach can find _something_ to throw up. You smell, Lex. Straight up alcohol and... what's that other smell..?"

"Okay." Lexa blurts, squirting toothpaste onto her toothbrush and sticking it into her mouth.

Anya eyes Lexa before snickering. "Did our Lexa get laid last night?" Lexa rolls her eyes and leaves to finish brushing her teeth over the kitchen sink. " _Oh my God, she did._ I have _got_ to hear about it."

"Time to go." Costia says as she leaves the bathroom "Let's go get our asses chewed out."

***

Everyone was at the meeting was this morning; everyone that was at the club at least, with the exception of a few people. They were lined up in rows outside in the field standing at attention in front of the higher ranks. First Sergeant Breaker paces the front of the line scanning the faces of everyone, a look of annoyance spread fully on his red face. Lexa, Anya, and Costia are in the second to front row.

"It has come to my attention," He starts finally. "That you were all at Mount Weather last night. Now, I'm not one to complain about going out and partying. You know, it's okay to wind down sometimes. I get it, I really do." He pauses for dramatic effect (he always did this). "But what is not acceptable is acting like a bunch of _misbehaving delinquent high school pieces of shit!_ " He pauses again and his face is beet red now. "What in the _hell_ made you think it was okay to start a bar fight? What delusion did you see that made you think I wouldn't hear about it? _Who the fuck_ whispered into your little ears and told you to embarrass me and the higher up and do something as stupid as fight in a club?"

Everyone is quiet, knowing well enough not to answer these rhetorical questions for the sake of their own lives.

"Now I know that some of you left before this indecency occurred, but because you were there to start with, you get to stand out here this morning and listen to this shit too. _I_ don't want to be here, but here I am. Having to yell at a bunch of fucking _adults_ like they're my goddamn children. Can't believe this shit. And for those of you that were still there when it happened but didn't have anything to do with the fight, why the _hell_ did you _not_ get your boys out of it?" Breaker puffs out a frustrated sigh and looks back at the faces of his soldiers. " _Ya'll look like shit._ I bet some of ya'll are still damn drunk, aren't you?"

"Permission to speak, First Sergeant." A voice came from the other side of the line. Lexa (and everyone else) know that voice all too well and she closes her eyes in preparation for what was about to come.

First Sergeant Breaker stands in front of Atom. "Go on, Private." Lexa can here the challenge in Breaker's voice for the guy to stay quiet. But it's Private Atom. There's no way he'll hold his tongue.

"Major Benning was there last night, but he's not in the line."

Lexa holds in the groan that threatens to leave her lips, but there are others that are heard for her. Major Benning is standing with the other higher ranking soldiers and the unforgiving look on his face and fire in his eyes means one thing: They are so fucked today.

***

"If Atom isn't murdered by the end of the day, I'm going to kill him myself." Costia groans as she plops down on the small couch when they enter their barracks.

"It's not the first time his mouth has fucked us all over." Lexa moans as she shuffles toward the couch as lies down with her booted feet on Costia's. "And it won't be the last time."

"No way," Costia says, pushing Lexa's feet off. "Boots off the couch and me."

Lexa is too tired and sore to remove her boots so she slumps on the couch somewhat uncomfortably and lays her feet on the floor. "Anya, you're the least hungover out of all of us. Make coffee." Anya is already on it. By the time it's done and she's carrying three cups to the other two, Lexa is drifting off to sleep.

"The only good thing that came from the hour of flutter kicks was watching Tonk puke all over the ground." Anya says as she sips her hot coffee.

"I'm glad I did all of that before the meeting or else I would have joined him and the other six who hurled." Costia chuckles. Anya laughs along and sees Lexa is falling asleep. She kicks her feet.

"Hey, don't think I forgot." She says.

"Forgot what?" Lexa spits, glaring at Anya.

"What happened last night, dammit!?" Anya exclaims and Lexa and Costia both grip at their heads. Unlike those two, Anya rarely ever got a hangover. "Sorry." She mumbles. "But seriously, you totally got laid last night. Gimme the deets!"

Lexa groans her response and Anya quirks a brow at her. "You don't remember, do you?"

"Of course I remember." Lexa snaps. "I'm not Cos."

Costia only shrugs. "You've got a point. I sure as hell don't remember last night."

"Okay, so what happened, you little slut?" Anya says, nudging Lexa's leg again. "One minute you were with us and the next you were gone."

Lexa looks at Anya uninterestedly, but Anya is not going to give up and she knows it. Lexa sighs. "I met her at the club. We drank a little, danced a little, and then we went back to her place."

Anya is now giving her a dirty look. "Yeah, you're not getting away with that shitty explanation. Details! Was she good in bed?"

Lexa can't help the breathy laugh that comes out.

"That bad?" Costia asks.

"No, no." Lexa says, remembering the night before. "It was really good.  Like, _really fucking good."_ She looks at her phone and a frown sets on her face. "It's my damn day off. I should be sleeping." She gets up from the couch and Anya looks ready to object. Lexa waves her away. "Lots of sex, Anya. Lots of sex." And she goes to her room and crashes for the next five hours.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Just text her already, damn." Octavia says about a hundred times throughout the day.  
> "What would I even say?" Clarke would ask back.  
> "'Hey, thanks for the hot sex last night, let's do that shit again some time.'" Was one of the responses Raven would give back.
> 
> or
> 
> Everyone is dealing with a shitty hangover and Clarke and Lexa go on a 'date'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any questions about last names and other things will be answered in the next chapter because I have to go to work now or I'll be late!  
> Comments are well welcomed!

Clarke's eyes flutter open to the brightly lit bedroom. The thudding in her head is like a hard pulse, expanding to the point of stretching and hurts so much she presses her pillow to her face and groans loudly. She feels like total shit.

She lies there for minutes, refusing to greet the day and open her eyes to the light again, knowing very well the brightness will only fuck her head up even more. This definitely isn't her first rodeo, that's for sure.

But something else about last night was. When the memory comes, she freezes, her face still in the pillow. She slowly rolls her head to the side and expects to see a stranger lying right beside her. When she finally pries open her eyes and faces the brightness, however, she doesn't find anyone there. She's alone in the bed. Did she just _dream_ last night happened? But then she looks down at her shoulder; her  _bare_ shoulder, and she sees a big red patch on her skin and she knows very well _what_ that is. And then she feels the breeze on her back and her legs and she doesn't need to get up or look down to know that, yep, she's totally nude.

Yeah, last night _definitely_ happened. And the lack of a second body in the bed only means one thing: she had a one night stand. She groans again. Raven is going to freak out.

She stays lying in that position on her stomach for a long while until she's jolted from what was almost another sleep by a clanging outside of her room. It takes a bit longer for her to finally roll over and get out of bed. Her breath reeks and tastes of bile and she really wants to brush her teeth and drink all of the coffee they own. She slips on clothes, but when she reaches her door to leave, she's distracted by the sticky note stuck to it. She pulls it off and takes a better look at it. There's a small drawing of a cup with steam coming from the top. Above the drawing is a neatly written sentence: Maybe I can buy you a different kind of drink next time?

Below the drawing is a combination of ten numbers: a phone number.

The corners of Clarke's lips pull up and she stuffs the note in her pocket before leaving the room to brush her teeth. When all is done and her mouth still tastes like shit (but not as bad), she shuffles her way into the living room where her two best friends are already cuddled up on the couch watching Netflix on the lowest volume with blank eyes not really watching the screen.

"The princess is alive." Raven mumbles halfheartedly.

"Barely." Clarke says back. "Raven Reyes is too hungover to put more emotion in her sass?" She tries for teasing, but her voice is just as dead as her friend's.

"Coffee is in the pot." Octavia grumbles, her eyes drooping.

Clarke pours herself a cup and joins the two on the couch in not really watching an episode of _Grey's Anatomy_. "This might actually be what death feels like." Raven says. The other two murmur their agreements.

"So what happened to you last night, huh?" Octavia asks Clarke. "We couldn't find you at some point and Bell said he thought you left with someone."

Clarke nods tiredly. "I did."

"Whoa, wait, what?" Raven's attention has been peeked. "You came home with someone?"

Clarke nods again. "I did."

"Well don't rush to tell us or anything, damn." Octavia says.

"Yeah, how is _that_ not the first thing you said to us when you woke up?" Raven asks.

"Because I _really_ wanted to deal with you two up my ass and teasing me first thing in the morning." Clarke rolls her eyes.

"It's two in the afternoon, Clarke. We're gonna be up your ass and teasing you first thing in the _afternoon_." Octavia snorts as Raven waves her hand impatiently.

"No distractions." She says. "I want the juice."

"So do I." Clarke grumbles.

Octavia gapes at her friend and Raven speaks, humor lacing her words. _"You don't remember?"_

"I was really drunk." Clarke says. She ruffles her hair. "I mean, I don't remember _much_ , but I remember how it felt?"

"It's okay." Octavia says with a smirk. "You don't need to remember it. It's all over your neck anyway." Raven and Octavia snicker.

Clarke realizes she pushed her hair over her shoulder when she ran her fingers through it and the multiple hickeys are in full view for her friends now. She rolls her eyes but doesn't bother covering them back up. It wouldn't stop Raven and Octavia from teasing her so there wasn't really much point anyway.

"So if you can't remember it, but you can remember the feeling, that must mean he was pretty damn good." Raven says, eyebrow raised in amusement and curiosity. "Must have had that magical dick."

" _She_ was pretty damn good, yeah." Clarke corrects. She can still practically feel the girl's fingers and tongue driving her to her next orgasm, and it was starting to heat her up again. Everything else about that night after they came back to her apartment was blurred to nothing except the memory of how the other girl made Clarke physically feel. She pushes away the memories and joins the other two back in reality.

"Wow." Raven huffs. "Our innocent little princess had a one night stand, O."

Clarke rolls her eyes. "I'm not innocent."

Octavia scoffs. "You're the most innocent out of the three of us."

"The last time you had sex was like a year ago with that chick- what was her name? Andi? Eric? Erin?"

"Erin." Clarke says.

"Yeah, and almost a year before _that_ was with that Baxter guy." Raven continues.

"Who names their son _Baxter_ anyway?" Octavia asks, her face screwed up into a grimace. "It sounds like his parents really wanted a dog instead."

The three of them laugh until their hangovers shut them up. Clarke pulls out the sticky note from her pajama pants and stares at it, reading it over and over. "She gave me her number." She says in the end.

Octavia pulls the note out of Clarke's hand and reads it out. " _'Maybe I can buy you a different kind of drink next time?_ ' So it's not a one night stand."

"It is if she doesn't text or call this girl." Raven says, snatching the sticky note from Octavia's hand. "Do you want to, Princess?"

Clarke shrugs. "I don't know." And it's not a lie. She really has no idea. She's never been in this sort of situation before. "What do _you_ usually do?"

"My one night stands are what they are: _o_ _ne night stands_. If they leave me their numbers, I rip it up and throw it away." Raven shrugs.

Octavia snorts and nudges Raven playfully. "Okay, but when was the last time you had sex, Ray?" She and Clarke giggle together.

Raven doesn't miss a beat with her comeback, as always. "When I was doing reverse cowgirl with your brother." And Clarke is roaring now.

"Fuck you." Octavia shoots at Raven.

"I think one Blake sibling is enough, but thanks for the offer, babe."

"If my head didn't hurt so bad right now, I'd kick your ass, Reyes." Octavia grumbles as she sinks further into the couch and tucks a pillow under her chin, her bottom lip sticking out in a pathetic pout.

"I'm sure." Raven smirks and turns back to Clarke. "So do you want to talk to her or not?"

"I told you I don't know." Clarke says.

"Well, I'll go ahead and make that decision easy for you then." Raven says, bringing both hands to the sticky note. Clarke realizes what she's about to do and, despite the banging in her head, she lunges forward like a lion catching a baby gazelle and snatches the note back, practically pushing Octavia off of the couch as she does so. Raven's smirk is bigger now as Octavia calls Clarke a chain of profanities.

"There's your answer." Raven says.

***

The day goes by painstakingly slow (as always when it's Hangover Sunday) and by the time it's 5PM, Clarke has accomplished nothing other than looking at her phone every ten minutes and debating texting the girl from last night.

"Just text her already, damn." Octavia says about a hundred times throughout the day.

"What would I even say?" Clarke would ask back.

" _'Hey, thanks for the hot sex last night, let's do that shit again some time.'_ " Was one of the responses Raven would give back.

Eventually, headaches give way to the Netflix movies they aren't really watching and Octavia and Raven pass out on the couch. Clarke, on the other hand, opts for her much more comfortable bed and leaves to it soon after. Lying on the bed, she closes her eyes and relishes in the relief it earns for her head. She sighs and opens her eyes, looking up at the ceiling. She lets out a sigh of a laugh and reaches for her phone and the sticky note.

* * *

It's around 3:30 by the time Lexa wakes up again and the first thing she notices is the ferocity of the growl that erupts from her stomach. The second thing she notices is the ferocity of the throbbing that her head is still giving her. The third thing she notices is that her phone is still dry.

(But she's going to pretend she only looked at it to see the time.)

(She's also not going to acknowledge the clock on her desk.)

She groans as she gets up from the bed and changes into more casual clothes and leaves her room.

"Who wants to join me at the Mes-" She starts, but stops short when she finds her roommates knocked out on the couch. Costia is leaning against an arm rest with her face in her hand. Her nose is scrunched to the side at an odd angle and her bottom lip pouts to the side and is overtaking her top lip. Her eyebrow is pulled in like she's in deep thought and the wrinkles on her forehead are deeply creased. Overall she looks like a first draft of the making of the monsters from _The Hills Have Eyes_ and Lexa fights the laugh that threatens to wake her. Anya has fallen into a similarly interesting position. She's slouched almost entirely off of the couch, lazily leaned over the other arm rest with her arm hanging over the couch and her head resting on her shoulder. Her mouth is parted open slightly and drool runs down her cheek and into a small wet spot on her shirt.

"This is priceless." Lexa whispers to herself as she pulls out her phone and pulls up the camera. She snaps photos of different angles of each girl and a few more of the both of them together before going to the kitchen and throwing back some Advil for her head and heading out of the building.

***

The Mess Hall isn't exactly Lexa's _favorite_ food choice, but it's much better than the choice of a bowl of old and stale Captain Crunch or oven made pizza for the seventh time this week in her barracks, and it's much closer then the food court in the PX. So Lexa settles for corn, meatloaf, and a block of charcoal in the shape of a sad biscuit. A few minutes into poking the gelatin-like brown glob on her tray and really thinking it would have been better to go to McDonalds or something, Lincoln, Ontari, Luna, and Nathan join her.

"Well don't you look like crap." Ontari says from across from her. She barely bothers to look up. ""Where's Reid and Monari?"

Lexa snickers. "I would show you, but my phone is at the barracks." She looks to Lincoln and his big sloppy smile. "You look pretty alive for someone who took more shots than me."

Lincoln gives a jocund laugh and smacks Lexa's back, which earns him the dirtiest of looks. "Ah, but unlike you, Woods, I was smart enough to drink a lot of water."

"Why are you so _happy_ though?" Lexa eyes him with a sort of disgust. Today was not a day to be so damn happy. "We got ripped apart this morning at the meeting."

Nathan blows out a puff of air with a sympathetic look. "Heard about that. Glad I had to work today and couldn't go out last night." Ontari and Luna nod their agreements.

"Am I not allowed to be happy for no specific reason?" Lincoln asks, still smiling. He wriggles his eyebrows and nudges Lexa now. "You should be more happy today too. I remember seeing you leaving the club with a cute blonde you were dancing with."

"Lexa keeps her eyes on the barely touched tray in front of her and can feel her ears burning red as the table share their middle school 'oohs'. Just like she can't help her ears from turning red, she can't help the smile that creeps across her lips either and Lincoln smiles even wider at her failed attempt at hiding it.

"Must have been a good night for Woods to be turning so red." Ontari teases.

"Shut up, Mabe." Lexa says, but her smile is still there and she laughs along with them.

The rest of chow time is met with recounts of last night and the morning's meeting to the three who were lucky enough to be absent for it until they have to go back to their work stations. Lexa and Lincoln go back to Lexa's place and (to nobody's surprise, really) they walk in to find not only Anya and Costia in the living room, but Monroe and Echo as well. Anya and Monroe both hold an Xbox controller in their hands and Echo is watching intently while Costia looks like she's starting to fall back to sleep. They barely even look away from their _Call Of Duty_ game to see who comes in before their eyes are glued back to the screen.

Lexa doesn't take in the familiar scene of the very small and now packed room for too long before she and Lincoln join Monroe on the floor and wait to play winner.

It's some time later and Lexa just passes the controller to Echo when she hears her phone vibrate beside her on the floor. She reaches for it to see an unfamiliar number and opens the message box. The first message is a picture and Lexa has to pull it up to full screen to see what it is. In the picture is a ceiling and a blue curtain. Zooming in, she sees that hanging off of the curtain rod is a pair of black panties. _Her_ black panties. She clicks off of the picture to read the next message.

 **From Unknown:** Forget something? Haha

Lexa laughs and types her message, suddenly feeling just as jocund as Lincoln.

 **From Lexa:** No wonder I couldn't find it. Haha.

 **From Lexa:** I couldn't stay and look for it. Something urgent came up.

 **From Unknown:** Well it's not going anywhere lol

 **From Lexa:** Are you just going to leave it hanging over your head until I get it back? Haha.

 **From Unknown:** But of course!

* * *

It was a few days of occasional texting until Clarke gets that text she's been hoping for. Her phone beeps beside her on the couch as she watches an episode of _Face Off_  with Octavia.

 **From Lexa:** So how about we go out for coffee?

Clarke smiles at her phone and sends her message.

 **From Clarke:** When did you have in mind?

 **From Lexa:** I am free tomorrow.

It was the week day, meaning Clarke had school, and after school she always had a ton of school work.

 **From Clarke:** I'm free any time after 4 :)

 **From Lexa:** Perfect.

***

Clarke has been downtown since her last class ended, waiting to meet Lexa at Starbucks. Granted, her last class ended at 4 and she's supposed to get coffee with the girl at 5, so she's only been waiting for about a hour. She spends her time in the library doing school work until right around 4:50. The Starbucks is right next to the library, but because she left her car near her school, she stuffs her things into her messenger bag and heads for the café.

The Starbucks is dimly lit, soothing and mellow for the college student regulars that use the facility to do work or study. Clarke isn't a stranger to this café; she finds herself using the place for those same reasons usually when the guys are over at her apartment and she can't focus and wants a drink; but usually she finds herself in the library. The place is quite busy but not excessively; most of the occupants are on their computers, drawing for classes, or chatting lightly with their friends.

Clarke scans the area for Lexa, not exactly expecting to find her yet since she's a bit early. She doesn't quite remember what the girl looks like (it was dark and she was drunk, and she reprimands herself for getting so drunk because of it right now), but she thinks she spots her in a green lounge chair by the windows, looking to the streets and tapping her fingers against the dark wood end table. Clarke makes her way toward her, hoping she wasn't too drunk that night that she had no idea what the girl looks like at all and is now walking toward some stranger. When she's almost there, the brunette sitting down turns away from the window and catches Clarke coming her way. She stands from her seat and Clarke is almost stunned to a stop at the sight of her. She keeps walking however, and is finally standing in front of the slightly taller girl after what feels like a lifetime of walking.

"Lexa?" Clarke asks, already knowing it's her. (But what else can she say?)

"Clarke." Lexa says back with a nod and a shy smile. Clarke takes note of the way her name sounds from the girl. She takes the extra step forward to embrace Lexa in a hug without really thinking it through, but she doesn't regret it when she feels slender arms lightly wrap around her as well, if only for a second before they let her go again and Lexa steps away.

"I hope you weren't waiting for too long." Clarke says as she sits down in the lounge chair across from Lexa. "You should have told me you were here, I would have left sooner. I was just down the street doing school work."

Lexa shakes her head reassuringly. "I only just got here minutes before you. I didn't even know there was a Starbucks here so I left early so I could find it on time."

"You didn't know there was a Starbucks here?" Clarke says in surprised disbelief. "You must not come downtown much."

Lexa shakes her head again. "Only on the weekends to drink." She tries to hold back a smile and Clarke notices, and suddenly Clarke is embarrassed and flustered.

"I don't want you to think I take every cute girl home with me after they buy me a few drinks. I have never done that before, I swear, I'm not like that." She shoots out like a fire hydrant.

Lexa chuckles. "I didn't think you were, Clarke." Clarke's stomach does a cartwheel at the sound of her name in Lexa's voice again. "I can't say I _haven't_ done it before," Clarke gives her an astounded look. "But I _can_ say you're the only one I've wanted to see again."

Clarke laughs lightheartedly. "Well thank you, I guess."

"What did you want to drink?" Lexa asks. "I'll go order them now."

When Lexa comes back, it's with an iced coffee with three pumps of hazelnut syrup for Clarke and a white chocolate latte for herself. Clarke thanks her and they drink their drinks silently for a bit, Lexa looking back out of the window, giving Clarke time to look at her. She sits straight as a board, regal and beautiful. Her curly brown hair pulled into loose braids behind her, revealing her long neck and her chiseled jawline and holy shit, Clarke has never found a person's profile to be so fucking attractive. Her full lips are pulled into a line, neither frowning nor smiling; more peaceful and comfortable. Clad in a pair of dark straight jeans, black Timberlands, and an olive green button-down shirt rolled halfway up her forearms Clarke notices a line of black ink poking through on her left arm. She tries to read what the tattoo says to no avail, so she trains her eyes back up on Lexa's face to find she is looking right back at her. Lexa is studying her, forest green eyes mesmerizing to Clarke and she could easily get lost in them if Lexa didn't speak up, bringing her attention back.

"So you said you were already down here for school work?" Lexa starts up the conversation.

"Mhmm." Clarke hums before she finishes swallowing some of her drink. "Yeah, I go to Ark Academy."

Lexa's eyebrows fly up, looking impressed. "That big art college that practically _runs_ downtown?"

Clarke nods. "The very one."

"I heard it is very hard to get into."

Clarke shrugs indifferently. "I got in on scholarship."

Lexa leans forward in her chair, clutching her warm drink in her hands and completely enthralled in what Clarke has to say. "You must be hot." Clarke raises a brow expectedly at the brunette until she realizes what she said. She shakes her head vigorously, her ears turning a bright red. "Shit. _Hot shit._ You must be hot shit to have gotten a scholarship." She corrects. "I'm sorry." She chuckles nervously, her ears still getting shades redder. Clarke finds it absolutely cute how flustered she is and smirks at the girl.

"I wouldn't call myself _hot shit_ ," She says with a smirk. "But only because I don't want to come off as conceited."

Lexa's composure is regained and she sips from her drink. "What're you majoring in?"

"I'm double majoring in painting and illustration, actually." Clarke says, and Lexa's completely taking in her every word. She tells her how she wants to sell her artwork; her paintings, pastels work, pencil drawings, every kind of art form she does; but her mother had reminded her of the hardships of earning enough money when she was on her own unless she opened up a gallery. So she chose to take up illustration as well to get her work out there in a different way and earn money hopefully.

"That's amazing." Lexa says in the end "Your passion for it all is fantastic. I'd love to see some of your work some day."

Clarke's stomach burns with warmth from how interested Lexa seems to be about her. She hadn't even realized how long she had been talking until she looks at the clock on the wall that tells her she's been talking for almost thirty full minutes, but Lexa doesn't seem to notice or mind. Either that or she is really good at faking it.

* * *

Lexa had been sitting at that Starbucks for a good fifteen minutes before Clarke joined her. She thought being there for much earlier than she was supposed to be would calm her nerves, but it really didn't. When she looks up and sees the blonde haired beauty, she is still as nervous as a Chihuahua in a pound of Rottweilers. And then her slip up... She says _hot shit_ in her head, but that last word doesn't come out of her mouth. How. Fucking. Embarrassing. But Clarke doesn't mind it and they get right back into normal conversation.

She soaks in everything Clarke says like a sponge, loving the huskiness of her voice and the way her bright eyes as blue as the sky today light up with the way she speaks about her art. The way her hands move animatedly when she speaks, pearly white teeth straight and easily showing through a smile as radiating as the sun above them. Her wavy blonde hair falls past her shoulders loosely and perfectly and her plump lips are oh so inviting.  She wears a black scarf around her neck and a knitted sweater due to the cold January weather. Lexa herself wishes she had worn something a little more weather appropriate, but that was too late.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize how much I had been talking. Tell me about yourself." Clarke says.

Lexa waves the apology away with a lazy hand. "Don't be. I like listening." She takes one last gulp of her now empty drink and places it on the end table. "What would you like to know?"

"Anything." Clarke says, setting her empty cup down as well "Do you go to school? Work?"

Lexa swallows dryly. Her answer was always the deal breaker. "No school." She says. "I'm in the Army."

She watches Clarke's taken aback expression and her heart drops. And there it is. The look every girl has when they hear that before they end the date and don't call back. It happened so often that Lexa had stopped trying to meet people for about a year now.

"The Army?" Clarke says, looking Lexa up and down briefly.

"I don't look like it?" Lexa asks coldly, suddenly feeling irritated and defensive. She watches as Clarke gathers herself again and her expression returns to the one of interest she had before Lexa answered her, only maybe still a little shocked.

"No, no, it's not that." Clarke says, slightly recovering. "Just caught me by surprise is all. My mom's boyfriend just retired from the Army. What do you, uh, what do you do? How long have you been in? Tell me all about it." Her smile is back up now and Lexa feels a little lighter.

"I've been in since I turned eighteen, so it's been almost four years now." Lexa says. "I'm a human intelligence collector. Thirty-five Mike."

Clarke hums and dips her head to the side, blue eyes locked on green ones. "Sounds important."

Lexa chuckles. "Sometimes, yes. I go out and gather information usually. Sometimes it's useless information though."

"So you've been deployed before?" Clarke asks.

Lexa nods. "Once for six months to Afghanistan. The weather sucks there, that's for sure."

Clarke laughs lightly. "How long have you been _here_?"

"I was stationed in Fort Trikru about four months ago."

"And you like it?" Clarke asks, totally interested now. Not like the other girls Lexa had talked to before.

"I do." She says. "It's the most sure I've been about something my whole life. But I'm not like one of those super military brainwashed soldiers who only think about _''Merica and freedom'_." Lexa says the last part in a grungy country male voice and Clarke laughs out loudly, receiving weird looks from a few people around her. Lexa's smile grows wider and more toothy and a small laugh joins Clarke's.

"Yeah, when you said you were in the Army, that's actually one of the first things that came to my mind." Clarke says.

"It always is." Lexa says, still laughing as well. "But no, that's not me at all, I promise."

"I believe you." Clarke says, coming down from her laughter.

They spend their time in the café talking about their lives and joking and Lexa definitely isn't nervous anymore. She also definitely takes notice that sometime during their conversation, their knees start touching, tapping against each other at first, but then Clarke's legs are trapped between Lexa's and Clarke isn't showing any sign of objection. Lexa buys them both another set of drinks and it's two and a half hours into their meetup that Clarke looks at her phone and it's time to go.

"It's almost eight, I should head home and do some homework." Clarke says.

Lexa nods and they get up and walk out to the darkening sky. "Where did you park?" Lexa asks.

"Near my school about two blocks away." Clarke says. "You?"

"Not too far from here. Let me walk you to your car."

Clarke smiles and nods and Lexa lets out the breath she didn't know she was holding and they set off. They're walking close enough that their hands bump each other every now and then, but Lexa doesn't make to take the blonde's.

"So I never _soberly_ thanked you for saving me at the club." Clarke says.

Lexa chuckles. "It was nothing, really. I got to meet you, after all." She watches as Clarke shyly stares down at the sidewalk, smiling. "The man wasn't wrong, you know."

Clarke looks up at her with a confused look. "About what?"

Lexa's crooked smile comes into place as she stares into Clarke's eyes. "You _really_ are beautiful, Clarke." Clarke's cheeks flush and Lexa's stomach does a few flips. Clarke doesn't say anything in return, but she doesn't need to; the smile is perfectly enough for Lexa.

She's caught by surprise when she feels Clarke's hand bumps hers again but doesn't swing away. Instead, she feels Clarke grab her hand and intertwine their fingers and Lexa's head is absolutely spinning now.

They walk hand in hand in comfortable silence for a while until Lexa remembers something. "So it was your birthday the other day." She says.

"Yep." Clarke says back.

"Were you out celebrating for your twenty-first or your twenty-second or what?"

Clarke nervously laughs. "About that... It was actually my _twentieth_ birthday."

Lexa looks at her in confusion. "But you didn't have an 'X' on your hand...?"

"My roommate's brother is actually a bouncer at Mount Weather sometimes." She replies. "He hooked us up with that."

"Ah, I see." Lexa slowly nods.

"Is that a problem?" Clarke asks and Lexa can hear the trickle of nervousness in her voice.

She shakes her head and looks back at Clarke again. "It's not."

They make it to Clarke's silver Ford Focus right when the sun goes down. "Do you want a ride to your car?" Clarke asks.

"It's fine, I can walk." Lexa says with a small smile.

"Are you sure? I have absolutely no problem doing it."

Lexa waves nonchalantly. "Get home so you can do your school work, Clarke. I can make it to my car on my own."

"Alright, okay" Clarke says and they hug each other goodbye. "Let me know when you get home?"

"Yes ma'am. Lexa says, and Clarke climbs into her car with one last smile before driving away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Twitter and Tumblr @ itsthecommander


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So what did you think of her?"  
> "She's definitely hot, so kudos to you. I didn't get a bad feeling about her so I don't see anything wrong with her dating my bestie."  
> "We're not dating, Ray." Clarke rolls her eyes.  
> She quirks an eyebrow amusedly and snorts. "Not yet. But... There is one thing about her."  
> Clarke sits up straighter. "What?"  
> "Why didn't you tell us she was in the Army?"
> 
> or
> 
> Lexa accidentally meets Raven, Clarke can't stop drawing Lexa, and Lexa gets jealous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a while to put up but it's forever long sooooo you're fucking welcome  
> Also can you guess the city I am basing the setting off of??

Lexa walks into the barracks and is greeted by the sight of a half naked Costia sitting on the couch. To her relief, Costia is not draped over some guy like a hungry dog like she's walked in on plenty of times before. Instead, Costia is sprawled out on the couch watching some reality TV show. Her hazelnut skin clear of blemishes and smooth as a baby's butt, unlike Lexa's skin which is covered in scars. Costia looks up from the TV and smiles happily when she sees it's Lexa.

"How'd it go?" Costia asks.

Lexa shrugs nonchalantly and drops to the couch beside her darker friend. "Pretty god."

Costia is studying Lexa's blank expression and Lexa knows she can read her like an open book. "I know I've only known you for like a little over two months, but I've _lived_ with you all that time to know it wasn't just ' _pretty good_ '."

Lexa fights the smile threatening to come out and make her look like an overexcited high school girl who just got asked out by her two week long crush, but nods all the same. "Okay, it was _really good_."

"Spill it, short stuff." Anya says as she comes out of the bathroom with a towel, dabbing at her wet hair. "Do we need to start planning the wedding?"

Lexa groans and rolls her eyes. "Don't be stupid, An. It was really nice, though I was worried she would be scared away by the whole Army thing, but she was totally unbothered by it." Lexa lets out a relieved sigh and gentle smile.

"So when are you going to see her again?" Anya asks, coming over to the couch with three beers in hand and handing Costia and Lexa one each.

Lexa pops open the can and takes a swig before speaking. "It all depends on her. _I_ liked it but that doesn't mean _she_ did."

"Oh come on, Lex, what's not to like about you?" Costia asks. It's rhetorical but Lexa answers it in her head anyway.

_Everything._

Anya catches the dubious look on her face and rests a reassuring hand on her knee. "This would be a perfect time for one of my infamous but _hilariously_ snarky comebacks, but I see you're really worried about this. You like her a lot already, I can tell."

"How does that even work?" Lexa asks more to herself than to her bestfriends. "This is the second time I've met her and I already feel so... I don't know..."

Costia gently places her hand on Lexa's other leg, mimicking Anya's gesture of comfort. "It's the sex." She says in the most relaxed and sweet voice that you'd have expected it to have come from your darling innocent grandmother. Lexa looks up at her friend's chocolate brown eyes and bursts out laughing first, followed by Anya and then Costia.

"You're so dumb." Lexa says when her laughter downgrades to chuckles. She pulls out her phone, suddenly remembering Clarke had told her to let her know when she made it home. She types her message and hits send as Anya and Costia start talking about work.

 **From Lexa:** Hey, I just got home.

It was a few minutes before she got a reply back.

 **From Clarke:** Good :) I was worried something might happen. Downtown isn't exactly the safest place anymore and a pretty girl like yourself is a good target for creeps

Lexa laughs quietly and sends her message.

 **From Lexa:** I can hold my own, but worry about me, Clarke.

 **From Clarke:** Ah yes, there's that Army confidence I was expecting! Haha!

 **From Lexa:** You caught me, haha. I guess I do have a few of those characteristics.

 **From Clarke:** Nothing wrong with a little confidence ;)

 **From Lexa:** Is my confidence rightly placed with the idea of seeing you again?

It is a bold message, but Lexa is feeling hopeful. However when five minutes passes and Clarke still hasn't replied back yet, her hope starts deflating like a balloon and she pulls up the message to backtrack on it. Halfway through her apologetic message, however, she receives a text from the blonde.

 **From Clarke:** Definitely :)

***

PT had been hell since the incident at Mount Weather a week ago. Longer runs, more pushups, twice as many flutter kicks, so much pain. Now, Lexa and Anya are sitting at their desks, bodies sore and eyes tired as they work.

"I think he's trying to kill us." Anya groans, head falling back against her seat.

"First Sergeant is still punishing us." Lexa says, not even bothering to look up from her work. "I say it'll be about another week until it goes back to normal. Maybe two."

Anya groans exaggeratedly. "I don't think I can last another _day_ let alone _week_."

Lexa chuckles at her dramatic friend. Yeah, she was sore as hell too, but she'd always been a very active and athletic person. In high school she did JROTC and was the captain of her varsity soccer team and lacrosse team, along with a member of the softball team. She lives for the physical exertion. "It's almost five. Then we can go home and you can crash."

"No," Anya says with the shake of her head. "Remember? We're going to pick up my car from the shop."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. That's fine with me. Right when we get off." Lexa says, focusing on the article she's supposed to be analyzing. Anya pulls out her phone after a while and Lexa hears the sound of Anya's favorite modile game: _Robot Unicorn Attack._

"Shouldn't you be - I don't know - _working_ , An?" Lexa asks.

"The hell am I supposed to do?" Anya asks and Lexa sighs.

"You're _supposed_ to be translating this article I'm analyzing into Pashto." Lexa reminds.

"Let me rephrase what I said." Anya says. "What the hell am I supposed to do when you have the article?"

Lexa rolls her eyes. "I told you to make a damn copy of it but you said no." Having no argument to defend herself, Anya says nothing. "If the First Sergeant came in right now and saw you playing a game on your phone, not only will you get your ass handed to you - _again_ \- but you'll also have _more_ PT tomorrow."

At that thought, Anya stands from her seat at her desk and walks across the way to Lexa's desk to take the article. "I'm gonna go make a copy of this." She grumbles.

"Good idea, Corporal." Lexa says in amusement.

"This is why you're going to get that promotion in a couple of months, Lex." Anya says with a forced and sarcastic smile.

"Why? Because I actually _do_ my work?" Lexa teases.

"And because you're so good at bossing everyone around." Anya shoots back with a wink. Lexa throws a pen at her retreating back before she disappears through the door.

***

Straight from the office, they take Lexa's car to the shop to retrieve Anya's car. When they get there, Lexa stays with Anya to make sure she does in fact get her car back and isn't stranded here. The guy at the desk takes them to the back where Anya's car is getting its finishing touch ups. The hood to her Tesla is up and the noise coming from it tells them someone is behind it.

"Reyes, they're here to pick the car up." The front desk guy says before leaving.

The hood of the car closes to reveal a gorgeous girl in a grease stained white shirt. If her last name isn't enough giveaway, her personal features and skin tone are enough to know she is Latin; probably Central or South American. Her cheeks, forehead, and the bridge of her nose are smeared with grease and she looks to be sweating despite the cool weather outside. She walks around the car to stand before Lexa and Anya and Lexa notices the hard limp in her stride. She looks down to see a metal brace padded to stay comfortable, but still sturdy looking. Lexa's eyes shoot back up almost as fast as they spotted the brace as to not offend the mechanic by looking too long.

"Hey, how you doin'?" The mechanic says. "I'm Raven Reyes." She brings her hand out in front of Anya after wiping some of the grime from her hands on a dirty rag.

Anya takes the hand anyway and shakes it. "Anya Monari." She says. Raven nods and turns to Lexa next, her hand out to her now.

Lexa takes it as well. "Lexa Woods."

Raven quirks an eyebrow at her. "Lexa Woods? You wouldn't happen to be the same Lexa Woods that Clarke Griffin doesn't shut up about, would you?" Lexa's eyes widen as confirmation.

"You know Clarke?" Lexa asks.

"She's my best friend and my roommate."

Lexa suddenly feels nervous around the girl and just nods. "Oh wow. Small world." Anya says. "I'm Lexa's best friend and roommate." Anya smiles at Raven.

Lexa's too in shock to speak and Raven goes back into work mode. "So whose car is this?"

"That would be mine." Anya says.

The two of them go off into car talk as Lexa pretends to be paying attention. Instead, her thoughts are on making sure she doesn't come off as weird, though she's sure her awkward and tense aura probably makes her seem so anyway.

"So go ahead and start her up and tell me how you like it." Raven says.

Anya climbs into her car and turns the key in the ignition. Lexa can notice the major difference in the way it sounds starting up now from how it used to sound.

"Hot damn, this is music my ears!" Anya exclaims, rubbing her hands against the steering wheel affectionately.

"Sounds almost brand new, right?" Raven smirks at Anya's excited reaction.

"God yes, you're like _Jesus._ " Anya says. Lexa laughs lightly along with Raven.

"Basically." Raven says.

A few minutes later and Anya pays at the front desk before they meet Raven in the lot as she pulls the car up front.

"Thanks again." Anya tells her when she climbs out of the car. "Now I know where to come next time."

Raven points a finger at Anya approvingly. "Yes you do. If you're lucky - or better yet, if _Clarke_ is lucky - maybe I'll give you a discount next time." She chuckles at her little joke and looks over at Lexa.

Lexa's blushing now as she looks up at the sky, avoiding Raven's gaze.

"If Clarke is lucky - or better yet, if _I'm_ lucky - maybe I'll see you around before then." Lexa hears the flirtatious smile Anya has before she looks down and sees it. She rolls her eyes at her friend, though Anya's eyes are on Raven.

"Maybe you will." Raven returns the flirtatious smile and Lexa has to fight back a groan.

"Alright, An, I'm going to the commissary now." Lexa says. "It was very nice meeting you, Raven."

"Same to you, Lexa Woods." Lexa starts walking to her car when Raven speaks again. "Clarke gets out of her last class at four on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Six o'clock on Mondays and Thursdays and one on Fridays."

Lexa turns to face her a few parking spots away and curiosity gets the better of her. "Does she really talk about me a lot?"

 _"God yes."_ Raven says. "Wondering when she'll see you again and if she should ask you or wait for you to ask."

Lexa nods and when she turns away, she allows the giddy smile to plaster itself across her face.

* * *

It's around six o'clock when Clarke is drawing in her sketchbook for homework for one of her classes. She loves that she's majoring in something she's so passionate about like art. Aside from the crappy classes like Art History that give writing assignments, her homework usually consists of hands-on stuff and other things she doesn't hate. She could draw and sketch and paint as much as she needed to for class and never be bored of it. She found herself drawing all the time, even absentmindedly on napkins and the side of her school notes. Art was her love.

But lately she's been having artist's block; unable to decide what to draw for class. Her drawing professor even noticed ("You must find inspiration, Clarke." he said to her. "It happens to us all.") Clarke groans and rips out the fourth sheet of paper from her sketchbook and throws it at her wastebasket in frustration, getting more irritated when, like the other three, the paper ball misses its target and mocks her from the floor inches away from her first scrap ball.

She reaches for her phone and looks at the now lit screen before slamming it back down on her desk maybe a little harder than she means to. Nothing. Not a single thing all day. No "Good morning, Clarke." text like she'd been getting every morning before she got up for school, no texts Clarke wasn't sure were meant to be flirting or joking or completely serious, not a single damned text all day. But why is she so upset about it anyway? She's only been on two dates with Lexa after all. The first time was at the café, the second time, they had just walked around a park hand in hand and talking. Lexa hasn't even kissed her on the cheek yet and Clarke was the one that initiated the hand holding on _both_ dates. Were they even dates? Clarke has no idea what to call them. Maybe Lexa isn't actually interested in her that way?

Maybe Clarke is the only one that can't get the other girl out of her head? She can't get the long brown curls that fall so naturally and beautifully past her shoulders to the middle of her back out of her head. Or the way she carries herself like she's practicing her posture for her cotillion. Or the way her tongue curls over her straight white teeth so smoothly when she says Clarke's name. Or how much she _says_ Clarke's name as though she's afraid she will forget it. She can't stop thinking about that half smile she does and Clarke knows she must reserve her real and bright smile for special people or occasions and she wants to see it more than _anything.She_ thinks about her striking green eyes. Clarke has made so many different shades of green for her landscape paintings, but there is no way she would ever do justice to that perfect pair of green orbs that sends chills down her spine whenever Lexa is looking at her. (And she has caught the girl looking at her a lot, actually.) Such amazing stunning eyes that Clarke could stare into for hours - _days._ But they were so guarded and careful not to let anything slip out. Clarke wonders what it will take for Lexa to bring her walls down for her. She wonders what Lexa is guarding so heavily with her cautious eyes and tense posture and sometimes unusually polite manner of speaking. Clarke wonders if she will ever know.

(She hopes to God she will.)

She focuses on the sketchbook she's absentmindedly drawing in. She looks at the sharp jawline and the pout of the full lips and the curly locks of hair and the lightly shaded set of eyes boring into her skin that she knows to be that green she was just daydreaming about. "Dammit." She mutters when she realizes she just drew Lexa - _again._ She slams her sketchbook closed with a loud and exasperated sigh and leaves her room.

She sits in the living room and flips the TV on to play an episode of _Skin Wars_ and for the next couple of hours, she focuses on the show instead of the text she has yet to receive.

Raven comes through the door around seven o'clock and goes straight to the refrigerator. "O?" She asks when she sees Clarke all by herself on the couch, draped in a blanket and clutching a cup of hot chocolate.

"With Bell and her mom for dinner." Clarke says, pulling her feet in to make room for Raven as she sits on the couch with a cold beer. She unclips her leg brace and pulls it off and Clarke sets her cup on the coffee table to pull the leg up onto her lap and massage it. Clarke knows Raven overworks herself at her job along with school and Clarke and Octavia always did this when she got home from a long day. A few months after the accident that paralyzed Raven's left leg from mid-thigh down, she'd complain and even get pissed when her two friends did it. Years later, Raven knows it's coming, and if Clarke or Octavia don't immediately grab for her leg, she practically tosses it onto their lap. Despite Raven's indifferent mask, they can only imagine the kind of pain she's in and they know she _needs_ this. And the reward comes when Raven's eyes close in absolute relief followed by her moans of approval. Today is different, however, and Raven keeps her eyes open and on Clarke.

"So did you already hear?" Raven asks, smirking at Clarke.

"Hear what?"

Her smile drops and her brows furrow. "You haven't talked to Lexa?"

Clarke shifts in her spot uncomfortably. "Not today. Why?"

Raven answers her question with another question of her own. "Something going on?"

Clarke looks up from kneading her leg and lands her eyes on Raven's concerned ones finally. "Not that I know of. She just hasn't texted me today." She shrugs nonchalantly, though it's really been eating her alive all day.

"Maybe she's just busy." Raven offers. "Have you texted her today at all?"

Clarke looks away guiltily. She actually hasn't. She tries to remember a time where she had texted Lexa first but her mind draws a complete blank.

"She's always the one that texts first."

Raven rolls her eyes. "Well good job, Princess. Living up to that nickname you hate so much, aren't you?" Clarke fumbles with her phone in one hand as her other one rubs over Ravens knee, guilt growing more and more in her gut. "I met her today."

Clarke's head shoots up to look at Raven. "What? When? Lexa?"

"Yep." Raven pops the 'P' at the end and drags the silence agonizingly out until Clarke's about to yell at her. "She came to the shop to pick up her friend's car some hours ago."

"And you two _talked_?" For some reason, Clarke is terrified at the thought. And nervous. Definitely nervous.

"Kind of. I think when I told her I was your bestfriend and roommate it kind of scared her and she got all quiet and shit. Kind of adorable, actually."

"So what did you think of her?"

"She's definitely hot, so kudos to you. I didn't get a bad feeling about her so I don't see anything wrong with her dating my bestie."

"We're not dating, Ray." Clarke rolls her eyes.

She quirks an eyebrow amusedly and snorts. "Not _yet_. But... There is _one_ thing about her."

Clarke sits up straighter. "What?"

"Why didn't you tell us she was in the Army?"

Clarke raises her eyebrows at that. "Is that a problem?"

Raven's eyebrow is practically in her hairline now. "Is it for _you_?"

Clarke hopes she doesn't hesitate too much. "No. It's not."

Raven smirks wider now. "Alright." She's teasing her with just that one word and Clarke ignores her and turns back to the TV. "She looks hot as fuck in her uniform. You've got good taste, Griffin."

Clarke's stomach clenches with some feeling and Clarke ignores the fact that it's jealously. "I wouldn't know. I haven't seen her in it yet."

Raven makes a noise somewhere between a hum of knowledge and a moan Clarke knows is meant to get under her skin. (And it works immediately.) "You're missing out. If I didn't know she was your girl, I'd have hopped on that _real_ quick. Taken her on her friend's car. I'd definitely let her top me-"

"Raven." Clarke growls her warning, eyes on Raven with the nastiest of looks. _"_ _I got it."_

Raven is laughing now, obviously proud of the reaction she earns from Clarke. "I'm just saying. If you don't text her, I might just get her number from your phone myself."

"I get it. _Fuck._ " Clarke abandons Raven's leg and unlocks her phone and, with a moment's hesitation, sends a message to Lexa.

 **From Clarke:** So you met Raven then?"

It's about another hour until she receives any reply back.

 **From Lexa:** I am sorry I haven't talked to you today, Clarke.

 **From Lexa:** It has been a pretty busy day for me.

 **From Lexa:** I did meet your friend today. She's very good at her job. Tell her my friend Anya says thank you again.

 ***

It's the next day and Clarke's been in her room staring at a plain white sheet of sketch paper for a good forty minutes, waiting for something to hit her. ( _Hopefully a bus,_ she thinks.) She usually loves when the assignment is free-thinking - a drawing of her choice, but not this time when she can't open that creative door in her damn brain to save her life. She almost _moans_ in relief when her phone vibrates on the desk beside her, allowing her to focus on something else. She smiles when she sees who the text is from.

 **From Lexa:** Are you free today? I was hoping we could do something.

 **From Clarke:** What did you have in mind?

 **From Lexa:** I didn't. I just thought anything is better than nothing.

Clarke bites her lip, thinking. She _really_ needs to get this assignment done. She has two more days to get it done and at the rate she's going, she needs all the time she can get. But she's _really_ been wanting to see the Army girl that's been taking over her mind since the last time she saw her almost a week ago.

 **From Clarke:** I really need to get this sketch done... :( I'm sure you would get bored watching me

When she reads the next message, a big smile finds its way on her lips and she's sure she's blushing.

 **From Lexa:** I'm sure I won't. I would love to see Artist Clarke in her zone.

 **From Lexa:** If you want me to, of course.

***

They meet at the same park they spent their time at the last time. Clarke carries her sketchbook and pencils in her messenger bag and walks around the large field. This is the biggest park of downtown; small concerts and huge events happened in this very park: gay pride, blood drives, Ark Academy chooses this park for a lot of its events. She watches the different groups of people on the field: a couple playing fetch with their Golden Retriever; two groups of friends are having picnics; there is a game of Ultimate Frisbee on one end of the field; of course, being so close to an art school, there are a few people drawing; others are on their computers and there is one guy playing his guitar against the stage to the far left. Behind her on the other side of the sideway is another field with a rugby game going on; there's an actual park on one side of said field filled with children and their parents; on the other end of the field is a tennis court.

Clarke wonders why she didn't come here sooner. She loves going out into naure or just out in public and drawing what is in front of her. Her fingers are already itching to hold her pencil.

"Clarke." Clarke spins in her spot at the sound of her name in _that_ voice. Her heart practically jumps to her throat in excitement. Or nervousness. Or both. And there she is. Lexa stands feet in front of her, looking as though she's trying to decide if she should come closer.

"Lexa!" Clarke doesn't mean to sound so excited to see the taller girl and she feels her face heat up. She's the first to step closer and they go in for a hug. Clarke decides she really likes the feeling of Lexa's arms around her. She smells of nature and mint and it makes Clarke's head spin a little. She pulls away and looks up at Lexa with a smile.

"Are you sure you won't get bored?"

Lexa shakes her head. "I won't. I brought a blanket, though. In case you wanted to sit in the grass." That's when Clarke notices the green blanket rolled up under Lexa's arm.

"That's perfect." Clarke smiles even more.

They step onto the field and find a nice spot and Lexa lays the blanket down. They look at all the happenings around them for a little in comfortable silence.

"If at anytime you get bored, let me know." Clarke says to Lexa.

Lexa looks back with that delicate smile. "Clarke." She starts, amusement in her tone. "I promise I will not get bored. I very much enjoy the outdoors, for one. And second, I'm with you." She looks back at the game of Ultimate in front of them. "I will not get bored."

Clarke's glad she's not looking, because the red tinge on her cheeks is impossible to hide. She instead pulls out her sketchbook from her messenger bag and opens it to the first blank page. There's so much she can draw today and she makes sure to do as much as she can. She doesn't notice the way Lexa's been watching her in awe as she sticks her tongue out in concentration as her hand moves around the pages. She flips to her third page when Lexa breaks the silence.

"How do you do that without looking?"

Clarke looks up at her and studies her face for a second "Draw?" Lexa nods. "I do look. But everyone is moving around out here so I can't exactly keep looking up and see the same thing. So right now I'm looking up to take in details I may have missed before." She shrugs. "Benefits of photographic memory, I guess. But I admit I'm a lot better when I have an unmoving subject to draw."

Clarke looks up to the field again, picking another thing to draw. She looks down to her book but is aware of the pair of eyes on her now and suddenly she feels self-conscious. She looks back up at Lexa's watching face and smiles shyly but widely, laughing awkwardly. "Don't look up me! Watch the game or something!"

"But you are much more interesting to look at." Lexa says with a small chuckle, but she complies when Clarke gives her a playful glare.

Clarke looks back to her blank page and then back at Lexa's side profile. She smiles to herself and starts her drawing of a much closer, less mobile subject than she had chosen moments ago.

She's only a few minutes into the sketch when Lexa turns to look at Clarke and Clarke practically squeals as she hides her work and points back to the game in front of them. "Look back over there!"

"Are you drawing me, Clarke?" Lexa asks, her ears turning a bright shade of red.

"No!" Clarke lies though she knows very well that Lexa knows she is. "Now look back over there and don't move!"

Lexa is stiff and awkward for a bit after that, but she soon relaxes and watches the game farther down the field begin to turn more violent.

"You can move now." Clarke says when she finishes. She starts turning the page to start another one when Lexa stops her.

"So you draw me and I don't even get to see it?" She raises a brow at Clarke. Clarke bites her lip, debating on doing so or not. She knew she was very good artist, but in front of Lexa's gaze she was feeling so self-conscious. In the end, however, she nods her head and allows the other girl to take the sketchbook from her hands.

She flips the page to reveal the drawing of herself. "Wow." She breathes. Clarke watches intently as Lexa's eyes dart over the page; over the side view of Lexa, jaw shaped so sharply and hair blowing so smoothly in the wind and nose so straight.

"This is amazing, Clarke." Lexa says. "It's like a black and white photography."

Clarke laughs. "I wouldn't say _that_ _._ "

" _I_ am. I am not lying, Clarke. This is absolutely amazing."

A little more looking at the drawing and then Lexa turns the page to the previous drawing of the Ultimate Frisbee game. Clarke had made sure to capture a moment full of action: the Frisbee soaring in the air and one of the players in the air from a jump to catch it. Some players are running toward the man while others are running past him.

"Wow." Lexa says again and Clarke can't help but smile at Lexa's look of awe.

She flips the page again and, though Clarke cannot see the page, she knows she's looking at the bearded man playing his acoustic guitar but the stage, beads and other trinkets in his shoulder length hair. Clarke watches her flip to another page and then another one a bit later.

"I see today is not the first time you have drawn me." She says.

Clarke's eyes widen and she snatches up the book from Lexa's hands, ignoring the sound of objection from her. She catches a glimpse of one of her numerous sketches of the girl sitting right by her before she slams it closed.

"I'm hungry, are you hungry?" Clarke rushes out, hoping Lexa won't push further on the drawings.

The smirk that's on her lips stays but she nods once and says, "I could eat."

* * *

They find a nice diner Clarke says is really good and sit facing each other. The waitress walks up to their table and almost immediately, Lexa notices the way the tall brown haired girl's eyes stay glued to the blonde sitting across from her.

"Hey, how are you doing this fine day? My name is Ashley, I'll be your server today. What can I start you off to drink with?"

Clarke looks up at the waitress with a friendly smile. "I'll have a raspberry lemonade, please."

"Very good taste, I see." The waitress says with a more than friendly smile at the blonde that Lexa doesn't like. After longer than necessary, Ashley peels her eyes from Clarke and glances at Lexa, her smile fading slightly.

"Water." Lexa says.

The waitress nods and sends her smile to Clarke again before heading off.

"So you really like this place, huh?" Lexa asks when they're alone.

Clarke nodes. "I do. The food is great. I used to come here all the time when I first started going to Ark."

Lexa nods. "The service is definitely... _friendly_."

"Yeah, normally." Clarke obliviously says and starts to laugh. "Not always. I once had a waitress who was just the worst person in the world." Clarke starts on her story about how horrible the waitress was that her friend Octavia almost poured her hot coffee on her and a guy named Bellamy tried to get them all to dine and dash. Lexa is laughing when the waitress comes back and sets down their drinks. Completely ignoring Lexa, she keeps her gaze on Clarke.

"You ready to order, blue eyes?" Lexa grips at her jeans so tightly that her knuckles are white.

_Blue eyes???_

She's irritated. This girl is flirting with Clarke while she sits right fucking there? Lexa watched, jaw clenched, as the girl throws her flirty smile at Clarke again. Clarke, however, doesn't seem to notice and tells her her order. And then it's Lexa's turn to order. The waitress turns to Lexa and, just like the first time, her smile drops and she doesn't really address her, just waits for her to speak. Lexa doesn't break their eye contact as she orders, her eyes hard and challenging the waitress. With another glance at Clarke, who is looking at Lexa, the waitress walks off, letting them know their food will be ready soon.

* * *

Clarke watches curiously in the way Lexa stares at the waitress. The girl doesn't even blink while she orders and her stare is strong and almost a glare. When Ashley leaves, Lexa is obviously more tense that she's ever seen her. Clarke doesn't know what the change is for, but she doesn't ask either. Instead, she hopes she can ease her by talking. So she talks about her friends.

"What did you think of Raven?"

"Your mechanic friend, right?" Clarke nods. "She seemed very nice."

Clarke raises her eyebrows at Lexa. " _My_ Raven? _Nice_ _?_ Are you sure it was the same person?"

Lexa keeps her eyes on Clarke's in silence for a beat until she chuckles. "Okay, so she was very... _interesting._ "

Clarke laughs knowingly. "Very blunt and... and _modest._ "

Clarke laughs harder at the clear sarcasm of her last word. "Oh yeah, very modest."

"My friend Anya definitely like her. Couldn't take her eyes off of her."

"Let me guess," Clarke says, knowing her best friend all too well. "Did Raven flirt with her?"

Lexa smirks and brings her index finger and thumb up close to each other. "Just a bit." Clarke chuckles and shakes her head. "But if it wasn't for Anya being there, I am sure I would have left a bad impression. I'm not exactly the most talkative person. Or the most friendly." Lexa laughs awkwardly.

Clarke cocks her head to the side. "Why is that? You were very friendly and talkative at the club."

"Yeah, I also had quiet a bit of alcohol in my system. And I _really_ wanted to talk to you." Her eyes have this way of piercing into Clarke's that made her heart palpitate. "So what about your other roommate? Octavia, is it?"

Clarke nods. "Mhm. She's another one of my best friends. I've known her since I was in second grade and she was in first. Her mom worked with my dad and she came over one night so he could babysit her. It's been history since then. She's like a toned down version of Raven, but when they're together...." She lets out a breath of amused air. "They're a blast when we're drinking."

When the waitress comes back, all of Clarke's progress in relaxing Lexa is thrown down the toilet as she tenses back up. Ashley sets down their plates and smiles down at Clarke. Her eyes are a light brown and they're bright and happy when she speaks. Probably one of the best waitresses Clarke has had in this diner. Clarke places her hands on the table in anticipation for the food.

"Is there anything I can do for you now, blue eyes?" She asks. Clarke laughs at the name she keeps calling her. She's funny, that's for sure.

At that moment, Lexa brings her left hand over the table and takes Clarke's own hand in hers. Clarke is caught by absolute surprise at the action; this is the first time Lexa has initiated any kind of physical contact.  Clarke's heart is fluttering like a kaleidoscope of butterflies trying to escape her chest. Lexa rubs her thumb across her knuckles and the sensation makes it hard for Clarke to focus.

 _Snap out of it, Clarke_ , she tells herself. When she shakes the feeling, she looks back at Lexa. That intense look is back in her green eyes and her body is stiff and filled with tension. Clarke can see she's clenching and unclenching her jaw.

"We are fine, thank you." Lexa says to the waitress in a voice Clarke is sure she's heard her use before, but she's not sure where.

Clarke looks up at the waitress, who still stands in front of her, waiting for her to dismiss her even though Lexa already did.

"I'm good, thanks." She smiles up at her and the waitress leaves, but not before winking at Clarke.

Lexa doesn't seem to notice that her hold on Clarke's hand tightens, but Clarke sure does. Not because it's too tight or anything, no, Clarke is just hyperaware of every move Lexa makes now that her soft hand is in hers. Clarke eyes Lexa's stoic expression.

"Are you okay?" She asks, squeezing her hand slightly to get her attention. Lexa shifts and clears her throat.

"Yes, I am fine." She says, and Clarke can catch the lie from a mile away, but she doesn't want to push the girl so she stays quiet.

Clarke thinks Lexa is going to let go of her hand and she prepares herself for the disappointment. But when she takes her fork and starts eating with her hand still gripping Clarke's she relaxes and smiles. Clarke has never been so thankful of being left-handed than she is now as she grabs her own fork and starts to eat.

"Our waitress is very fond of you, Clarke." Lexa says matter-of-factly after a bit. Clarke looks up at her at the same time Lexa does and quirks her brow at her.

"You think?" Lexa simply nods. "No, she's just being nice is all. She's trying to get a good tip."

Lexa's own brows lift up for Clarke and she swallows her food before speaking again. "She cannot take her eyes off of you, Clarke.

In that moment, the waitress is back and Clarke can see Lexa sigh as her eyes grow darker. "How does everything taste?" She asks, smiling at Clarke.

"Really good as usual." Clarke says.

"You come here a lot?" Ashley asks.

"I used to. Not so much anymore."

"That's why I haven't seen you before." She says with a smile. Her eyes roam up and down Clarke. "I wouldn't forget a pretty face like yours."

Clarke definitely catches the flirt in that comment and forces out a slightly awkward laugh. In front of her, Lexa tenses up even more than Clarke thought possible and clears her throat.

"Alright, did you need me to bring you anything? Any sauces, another drink, napkins-"

"Some more napkins would be nice." Lexa cuts her off with the same challenging tone as before and Clarke realizes where she's heard is from: at the club when she saved her from the creepy old guy.

The waitress pulls napkins out of her apron and almost reluctantly drops them in front of Lexa without even looking at her. Clarke suddenly doesn't find their waitress so nice.

"I'm alright, thank you." Clarke says, realizing she's waiting for her to respond. When she's gone, Lexa looks straight at Clarke.

"You see?"

Clarke laughs a little. "Okay, maybe you're right." Lexa scoffs and Clarke smirks at her. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

Lexa looks at her curiously. "What secret?"

Clarke leans in a bit, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "That you're jealous."

Lexa doesn't show any change of emotion, but Clarke noticed her ears and cheeks turning red. "I am not jealous."

"No?" Clarke challenges.

"No ma'am."

Clarke leans back in her seat with a knowing look. "Right."

They finish their food and the waitress comes back with the check, placing it in front of Clarke. Lexa takes it immediately, glaring at Ashley who finally looks at Lexa with an unimpressed look.

"I can pay, Lexa." Clarke offers, feeling bad that she's going to pay for being treated poorly by their waitress.

"It is fine, Clarke. I have absolutely no problem paying for you."

"But you paid for our Starbucks last time." Clarke says. Lexa only looks at Clarke as she hands her card to the server, who quietly take it and leaves.

"I'm paying next time, got it?" Clarke narrows her eyes playfully at the brunette.

Lexa nods. "Very well."

Ashley brings back the card and receipt for Lexa. "Thank you for coming and I hope to see _you_ again." She says as she hands Clarke a slip of paper before heading to another table. Clarke flips the paper over to see a phone number.

"Just a little, Clarke?" Lexa asks, looking at the slip of paper in Clarke's hands as well.

"Not jealous, Lexa?" Clarke asks back, amusedly. Lexa doesn't take the bait and finishes paying. Clarke watches her cross out the tip line and then she starts scribbling something below it. It takes some effort, but Clarke manages to read the upside-down writing:

Tip: Don't flirt with other people's dates.

When they leave, Clarke leaves the phone number on the table and Lexa takes her hand, shooting a glare at Ashley, who bids Clarke good bye once more.

"So I was wondering." Clarke says when they sit at the park again. The Ultimate Frisbee game is replaced by a soccer game and there's a man throwing a tennis ball for his Great Dane. "What are you doing on Friday?"

Lexa thinks for a moment. "Nothing that I know of, why?"

"Octavia's brother Bellamy is having a college party and I was hoping you could come."

"College party? You just want to get me drunk again, don't you?" Lexa asks teasingly.

"You don't have to drink if you don't want." Clarke smiles. "And you can bring your friends too. Anya and whoever else you want."

"Okay."

"Okay? So you'll come?" Clarke is suddenly excited.

Lexa nods, looking at Clarke's big smile. "I will come."

Her eyes look up to Clarke's blue ones and then back at her lips. Clarke's very aware of it and watches Lexa's tongue run over her own lips. Clarke anticipates Lexa leaning in to kiss her. But it doesn't come. Lexa clears her throat and looks at the soccer game silently instead. Disappointment fills Clarke, but she pulls out her sketchbook and starts her sketch of the man playing fetch with his dog.

* * *

When Lexa gets back to her barracks, Anya and Monroe are playing _Resident Evil 5_ and Costia is watching as they all eat pizza. As usual, they barely look her way when she enters the room. Their friends always barged into their barracks whenever they wanted and it became so frequent that they barely pay much mind to it anymore. Lexa grabs a Tropical Punch juice pouch from the fridge before sending Monroe to the floor and sitting down on the couch with a slice of pepperoni pizza in her hand.

"How was the date?" Anya asks.

"Great. I watched her draw and then she drew me and we went out to eat." Lexa tells.

"Did you kiss her?" Costia asks. Lexa's face flushes.

"No." She says. "I'm trying to go slow so she doesn't think I'm just trying to get in her pants again."

"I'm confused." Monroe says through a mouthful of pizza crust. "Your face was between her legs an hour after you met her and now you can't even _kiss_ her?" Lexa rolls her eyes.

"She's trying to be a gentleman." Anya says. "Or is it gentlewoman? Gentleperson? Gentlegay. Yeah, I'll go with that. Just because you're not a gentlegay doesn't mean others aren't." Monroe throws a packet of parmesan cheese at her.

"Asshole."

"Anyway," Lexa says as she leans into the couch more. "I will kiss her when I think it's the right time." Her mind wanders to earlier when she almost kissed her at the park. Her lips were just so inviting and _there_ , but she doesn't want to rush it. She'd only been out with the girl three times.

"Oh hey," Lexa says, interrupting Anya's and Monroe's bickering about who got to take the shotgun from the chest in the game. "Clarke's friend is having a frat party or something and said you guys can come."

"Oh, fuck yes!" Anya exclaims. "I get to see that hot Hispanic girl again? Raven?"

"Don't you dare, An." Lexa warns. "Don't screw this up for me by fucking around with one of Clarke's best friends."

Anya gives her deadpan look. "You're worried about me, when you just invited Walk-Of-Shame-Monroe?"

At that moment, Lexa knows she's going to regret inviting any of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think in the comments!!!  
> Find me on Tumblr and Twitter @ itsthecommander


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa and the gang go to Bellamy's party and get really drunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note of info: Lexa is a CPL (Corporal), Anya is a SPC (Specialist). Lincoln is a SPC, Costia is a PFC (Private First Class), Monroe is an E2 Private, Echo is a SPC, and Luna and Miller are PFC. Oh and Gustus is a Second Lieutenant (2LT) and Indra is SFC (Sergeant First Class)

"So she hasn't kissed you yet?" Octavia asks.

"Nope." Clarke says with the shake of her head.

"Not even a kiss on the cheek?" Raven asks next.

"Not even."

"She does remember that her mouth was on your coochie a little over a week ago, right?" Raven throws a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

"Maybe she's just taking it slow?" Octavia tries.

Clarke shrugs. "It's not that I'm upset she hasn't kissed me, it's more like I'm worried she's just not into me like that."

Raven looks dumbfounded. "Her mouth was on your coochie, do I need to remind the both of you?"

Octavia rolls her eyes. "Oh please. She likes you. You're overthinking it. You're super hot and hilarious-"

"Not to mention you have a damn fine rack." Raven says. Octavia looks down at her bust and nods in agreement.

"I hate you two." Clarke grumbles, slouching further into the couch and locking her eyes onto the TV screen where they were binge watching _Fear The Walking Dead._

"We love you too." Octavia lays her head down on Clarke's shoulder.

"Didn't you say she was coming to the party on Friday?" Raven asks. Clarke nods. "There ya go. She wouldn't want to come if she wasn't interested."

Clarke thinks about it. She knows she's overthinking it. She always does now. Lexa hasn't given any sign that she's _not_ interested, so why does she keep thinking up reasons why she isn't? Clarke knows why.

"Finn." She answers out loud. Raven and Octavia both look at her and her completely blank expression, in a world of her own. Octavia squeezes her knee comfortingly.

"Fuck him." She says. "Well, don't literally fuck him, you already made that mistake. Maybe kill him instead. You and Raven can kill him together. I'll help if you need a third pair of hands."

"I know some people that could hide the body." Raven pipes in.

Clarke snorts. "Why am I not surprised to hear that, Ray?" Raven shrugs proudly.

"If only it were legal, girls." Octavia sighs. "If only it were legal."

"You never know." Clarke says. " _The Purge_ could become a real thing."

"He would definitely be my number one target." Raven says. "Him and Wick."

" _Fuck_ Wick." Octavia practically yells.

"Not literally, though." Clarke says in amusement.

"God no. I would help you kill that racist, homophobic, sexist scumbag too!"

"Wick the Dick." Clarke yells out.

Raven bring her thumb and index finger close together. "Tiny dick." She says, causing them all to laugh hysterically.

Clarke gestures toward the TV. "If there was a zombie apocalypse, I'd act like I thought they were zombies and shoot them in the head."

"Same." Octavia sings.

"Speaking of this show," Raven starts, pointing at the screen. "That one girl looks just like Lexa."

"Which one?" Clarke focuses on the screen again.

"The hot sister girl, I don't know her name."

"Alicia?" Octavia asks. She was the only one that was really paying attention to the show; Clarke had been too distracted texting Lexa, and Raven... Well, Raven just hadn't been paying attention.

"I don't know." Raven says. "Which one is that?"

"That one that was riding the stolen bike last episode, damn pay attention!" Octavia says.

"Yeah, that's the one. She's fucking hot. And she looks like she could be Lexa's doppelganger."

At that moment, the girl comes onto the screen and Clarke can definitely see the resemblance. "Yeah, she does a little."

"Fun fact," Octavia says with a mouthful of popcorn. "The actress who plays her is also named Alycia. Alycia Debnam-Carey. And she's Australian."

"And she suddenly just got more attractive than your girlfriend." Raven says.

"She's not my girlfriend." Clarke says for the nth time.

"Yet." Octavia and Raven say in unison as usual.

"Jinx, you owe me a coke." Octavia says. Raven groans and grabs her Coke from the end table to give to her.

"That doesn't count, what the fuck, Ray? I don't want your half-drunk Coke!"

"Think of it as an I.O.U half."

Octavia glares at Raven but takes the can anyway. Clarke chuckles to herself at the best friends she has.

***

"This week's assignment is _almost_ freestyle." Professor Cartwig says to the class as they gather their things and start to leave. "Freestyle using cool colors. Whether it be something made up of cool colors or you make it like that is all up to you."

Clarke makes to leave with everyone else when the professor calls her to her desk. "Clarke, may I speak with you for a moment?" When the room is empty of everyone but the two of them, Professor Cartwig waves the sketchbook Clarke turned in in the beginning of the class in front of her student.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No," She says with a smile. "You were having trouble with the assignments before, Clarke. But today you come in with pages and pages of sketches that are _fantastic_."

Clarke smiles lightly. "I guess I found a little inspiration?"

Professor Cartwig opens the sketchbook to the last drawing: the one of Lexa at the park. She flips back a few pages to another one of Lexa. She flips back more and each of the next four pages are all Lexa.

"I think," Cartwig says with the quirk of her eyes and a smile on her lips. "You found your muse."

* * *

Lexa comes out of the shower in a towel after coming home from her two-hour workout at the gym. Costia is still at work and Anya is out with Echo. In the next few hours, they would be getting ready for the party Clarke invited them to. Right now, however, she plans on spending her time shut up in her room reading and probably taking a nap. She blow dries her hair so it doesn't come out as curly as when she lets it air dry. When her hair is satisfyingly wavy, she goes into her room, frees herself from the towel and slips on some boy shorts and a big baggy t-shirt.

Grabbing her book from its spot on her small desk, she plops herself down on her bed. She looks beside her and her eyes catch the framed photo on the bedside table. It's a photo taken around thirteen years ago of her and her family. She smiles at it, taking it in for a moment before focusing on her book.

***

"Okay, so who is DD tonight?" Echo asks as she drives them to the address Clarke texted Lexa. Anya sits in the passenger seat while Costia, Lexa, Monroe, Miller, and Luna are all crammed into the backseat of the SUV.

"You're the one that's driving." Monroe grunts as Costia shifts on top on them all.

"I'm driving us _there,_ but I'll make sure I can't drive us _back_." Echo says and Anya bumps fists with her as they laugh.

"Why the hell didn't anyone sit all the way in the back?" Luna complains.

"Because _somebody,_ " Lexa makes sure to glare so hard at the back of Echo's head in hopes that she feels it. "Didn't clean out the hatch like we told her to-" Her sentence ends in a groan when Luna's elbow accidentally digs into her gut.

"You guys are fine!" Echo says. "You all look so comfortable, why are you even complaining?"

"You know what?" Miller says after Costia knees him in the chin. " _I_ will be the DD. Anything to get me out of the back."

"Dammit, I was just about to volunteer." Lexa grumbles. "Luna, get your fucking elbow out of my ribs!"

"I'm sorry! Costia's arm is pushing against mine!"

"If I move away anymore I'm going to fall!" Costia says.

"Why is Miller here anyway?" Monroe asks. "I thought this was some ladies night or something?"

"Why did you think that? We're going to a party thrown by a guy." Lexa says.

"Besides," Anya says with a smirk. "Even if this _was_ ladies night, Miller would have every right to come along as we do."

"Fuck you, Anya." Miller rolls his eyes.

"You wouldn't. I don't have a dick." The entire car erupts with "ohs" and Miller kicks at the back of Anya's seat, causing Costia to slip off of their laps and fall to the car's carpeted bottom.

When they finally reach the address, the five in the back cannot get out fast enough as they scramble through both doors. Finally free, Lexa stretches and feels the string of pops and cracks erupt from her back and shoulders.

"Holy shit, I think my chest just popped. I didn't even know that was possible." Luna practically moans.

It was definitely a college party from the looks of it on the outside. Music is blaring and Lexa wonders how the cops haven't been called yet. There are a few already wasted kids in the front lawn and yelling can be heard in the backyard. Lexa catches a blue laser roll past a window on the first floor.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Lexa says. Strong hands grip at her shoulders.

"Nonsense, Commander." Anya says. "You came to see Clarke, right?"

"Yeah, but what if some shit happens here? College parties have a bad reputation and we don't need to get in trouble again."

"You worry too much. Don't be a party pooper, Lex!" Monroe says, patting her back hard and starting for the front door.

It takes a few knocks and the group is about to just walk in when someone finally opens the door from the other side. His eyes are droopy and his nose is long and straight. He eyes them for a bit silently until another guy joins him, wrapping his arm around the guy.

"You guys don't look familiar." The first guy finally says.

"Do half of the people ever look familiar, Murphy?" The second guy says with a floppy smile. He's a handsome shaggy haired freckled boy with a deep dip in his chin and straight white teeth in his smile.

"Clarke invited us," Anya says.

"Oh!" The second guy says, his deep voice booming through the room behind them. "Yeah, she told me. Lexa?" He points to Anya, who looks about ready to be _Anya_ and pretend she's _Lexa_.

" _I'm_ Lexa." Lexa cuts in before she does so. Anya pouts in defeat.

"Lexa!" The shaggy haired guy says, pulling her into the house and wrapping on arm around her shoulder. She openly tenses at the contact, ready to jab the guy in the nose if he makes a move on her. "I'm Bellamy, Welcome to my place!" Learning his name and knowing he's one of Clarke's closest friends, Lexa decides she won't make the guy bleed. Plus, she can tell he's quite intoxicated. "Let me take you ladies to the kitchen for some drinks!"

In the kitchen are countless liquors and mixers and a punch bowl of jungle juice Lexa is not going to give the light of day to. As her friends start making their drinks, Bellamy turns to her with a smile.

"What would you like to drink, Lexa?"

Eyeing the boy she's only heard of from the blonde, Lexa decides she doesn't yet trust him. "It's okay, I can make something myself." She says with a friendly smile. He chuckles.

"I see. Don't know me yet to trust me, I get it. I won't take offense."

Lexa makes her drink and turns back to Bellamy. "Where is Clarke?" Instead of answering her, he says something else Lexa very much expected.

"Clarke is like a sister to me." He says, his smile dropping so he can give her an intimidating scowl she doesn't find too intimidating. "If you break her heart, you'll have to deal with me, got it?"

Lexa nods her understanding. "I don't plan on doing so."

Bellamy's smile is back on his face like it never left. "Great! Last I saw her, she was in the back. There's a door leading to it in the living room that way." Lexa nods and she and her girls follow; Miller stays to chat with the guys.

The living room is filled with drunk girls and guys dancing and talking. The lights are dimmed to almost complete darkness and there is a laser box in a top corner of the room, filling the room with blue and purple lasers that dance to the beat of the song playing. The backyard is big; _really_ big. A couple of beer pong tables are laid out close to the door; people are sitting at a table talking and laughing to the right of said beer pong tables; a little further out is a group of four people, one on each side of the table playing some game. There's a group much further out as well, but Lexa's eyes catch familiar blonde hair at the four-person table.

Lexa turns around to check her group and finds Luna and Costia missing. She looks to her leftover friends questioningly. They shrug, just as lost as to where they went. Lexa turns back and starts for the table.

"You're not gonna get this one." Clarke's husky voice says. Her voice is a little heavier than usual, and though her back is turned to her, Lexa can tell the girl has had a fair amount to drinking just by hearing her speak.

"Yes I am." The girl beside her says, holding a large coin between her index finger and thumb.

"No, it's not happening." Clarke says in anticipation. The girl being challenged bounces the coin off of the table and it lands in a small metal cup placed in the middle of the group. Everyone cheers as Clarke takes the cup and drinks the whole of its contents before pulling the coin out of her mouth.

"Alright, you ready?" The blonde says when they replace the refilled cup to the middle of the table. The other three at the table and the four behind her watch as she tries to put the coin on the bridge of her nose. "Oh, no, wait." She struggles. "I have done this before, I promise." When she balances it finally, she tilts her head down and the coin falls, bouncing against the table and clinking into the cup. She brings her hands up above her in victory as the guy beside her drinks from the cup. "Don't underestimate the blonde, ladies."

Lexa comes up behind her now. "Nice shot." She says into her ear. Clarke spins around and smiles when she sees it's Lexa, practically jumping into her arms for a hug. Lexa makes sure to hug her back tightly; she smells like strawberries and vanilla.

"You came!" She exclaims when she pulls away. She looks behind Lexa at her friends.

"Of course. I said I would." She steps aside to bring her friends into view. "Guys, this is Clarke. Clarke, this is Anya, Echo, and Monroe."

Clarke is about to greet them when Anya steps up. "So you're the hottie that's got my girl's head in the gutter all the time." Lexa's glad it's dark so no one can see her face and ears go red.

"You're the friend that's got a thing for _my_ friend." Clarke says back.

"Speaking of, where is she?" Anya asks.

"She and Octavia went to go find worthy opponents for beer pong."

"Oh god." Lexa says with a chuckle and a roll of her eyes.

"What?" Clarke asks. Lexa juts her chin out to point at Anya's and Echo's shared look of mischief.

"You said the magic words."

"Sounds like they're looking for us, Ech, doesn't it?" Anya asks.

It sure does, An." Echo says and they're off back toward the house just when Raven and a shorter girl walk through the door.

"And then there were two." Lexa says to Monroe, whose attention is on the group further out. Lexa looks at them too and can tell right away what they are: stoners.

"Not for long." Monroe says, stepping toward the group.

Lexa grabs her by the back of her shirt and pulls her back. "Don't even think about it, Zoe." She says. "Not on my watch."

"Oh come one, Lex." Monroe practically whines.

"If you were caught with that shit in your system, you're out, Monroe." Lexa says. "Ruin your career any other time, but not when you're with me, got it? If I see or smell it on you, I'm taking you home."

"And then you'll have to deal with me for making Lexa leave early." Clarke chimes in and Lexa smiles.

Monroe looks disappointed but nods and starts off toward the beer pong game that's now in full effect. Clarke and Lexa start for their friends as well.

"Are you the mom of the group?" Clarke asks with a chuckle.

"I don't like to see them screw up like that." Lexa says with a shrug.

"But they listen to you."

"For the most part, they do." Lexa smiles lightly. "But that's just because I outrank them. Clarke laughs and they catch up to the game being played by their friends.

"Lex!" Raven exclaims as she throws the pong ball across the table. It misses, but goes unnoticed.

"Hello Raven." Lexa nods to her.

"So this is Lexa, huh?" The unknown girl says, walking up to them and eyeing Lexa. Lexa notices how she looks like the guy that greeted them at the door: Bellamy.

"You must be Octavia?" Lexa brings her hand out to shake. The girl shakes it with a smile and a nod.

"Clarke and Raven were right. You _are_ hot."

"Okay!" Clarke says as Octavia and Raven snicker. "Get back to your game, O."

Lexa noticed the look Anya is giving Raven from across the table and pats her shoulder roughly. "Down girl." Anya rolls her eyes.

They watch the game as it gets more intense with every solo cup downed. The two teams are quite well matched and Clarke tells Lexa how rare it is for them to find a team that gives them a run for their money. In the end, Raven and Octavia win thanks to a little flirty cheating made by Raven every time it was Anya's turn. Clarke and Lexa are up next, with Clarke's swearing she's just as good as her two best friends and Lexa swearing she's probably the worst teammate to have for this game. With a lot of smack talking made from both sides, Lexa makes true on her word and they lose quickly. It's Monroe's and Anya's turn next and with Raven's continued distracting and Echo's skills absent, they lose just as quickly as Clarke and Lexa had.

"Just give up, ladies." Octavia says with a high five to Raven. "We'll look elsewhere for worthy opponents."

Seeing how much Clarke wants them to eat their endless words, Lexa tells her to play with Echo. No one is as surprised as Raven and Octavia when they finally break their winning streak. More people come to challenge Echo and Clarke and Lexa watches her kick every one of their asses.

It's a few rounds later when Lexa goes inside to get another drink. Instead of going back outside, however, she climbs the steps to the second floor. She walks down the hall, hearing loud moaning coming from one of the closed doors until the hall opens up into a large game room also filled with people. She sees Miller with Bellamy and Murphy playing darts and Luna and Costia are sitting on the couch playing a drinking game with a few other people. There's a door at the other end leading to a balcony and Lexa picks the quieter outside than the very loud and crowded inside.

The night is cool and she's glad she wore a jacket this time around. There's nobody on the balcony and she silently thanks no one exactly for that. She leans against the railing and looks down. The beer pong game is in full view and she smiles at the bird's eye view of the blonde who is very much enjoying herself. She watches the game for a bit, but soon finds her mind wander off to other things. Her thoughts always seemed to drift to much dark things when she was alone, but she never had much problem with it. She practically _lived_ in that darkness for much of her life.

"Bored?" Lexa jumps at the voice behind her and opens her eyes to see Clarke leaning on the railing right beside her. She looks back down at the game below and sees Anya has replaced Clarke beside Echo again. "You weren't there anymore. I looked up and saw you up here."

"I'm not bored." Lexa says. Clarke looks at her like she's lying and Lexa chuckles. "I'm not, I swear. I'm having fun. I went to get a drink and found the rest of my friends up here."

"You seemed to be in deep thought when I got here." She says. "Wanna talk about it?"

Lexa feels a warmth in her chest with Clarke's care, but she sighs and shakes her head, looking at the blonde's beautiful face. "I'm okay, Clarke." Clarke smiles and looks out in from of them, scooting closer so their arm and shoulder are touching.

"I'm really glad you came, Lexa." Clarke says sincerely. Lexa smiles and looks down at her.

"I'm really glad I came too."

They stand there side by side in silence for a bit, listening to the party going on behind them and watching the game below.

"You're always wearing long sleeves." Clarke breaks the silence.

Lexa quirks a brow at her. "Well it _is_ winter."

Clarke bumps her shoulder against Lexa's playfully and rolls her eyes. "I've been curious since day once." She says. "What is your tattoo?"

Lexa smirks. "Which one?" This very clearly spikes Clarke's curiosity.

"Which one?" She repeats. Lexa laughs lightly.

"Clarke, we had sex the first time we met and you don't remember that I have tattoos?" Clarke blushes with embarrassment.

"Don't be mad? I don't remember much of that night after we got back to my place."

Lexa laughs. "I _remember_ it," She says. "But it's all blurry. I'm not mad."

"So can I?" Clarke hesitates, but gestures toward Lexa's left arm. Lexa nods and gives her the space to reach over and take it.

Clarke scoots even closer and grabs her arm. Slowly, she pulls both her jacket and long sleeved shirt up to fully reveal the black script inked onto her forearm.

"'My fight is not over.'" She reads out. She runs her fingers across the semi-cursive writing. "Powerful words. They must have a strong meaning to you."

"They do." Lexa says. "But that's a story for a later time."

Clarke nods in understanding and Lexa takes in the closeness of her. She's inches away now and Lexa can't help it when her eyes drift to the girl's lips. She's still playing with her arm, allowing Lexa to look freely at her until she looks up. She's been caught, but Lexa doesn't care because Clarke is looking at her with her deep blue eyes and partially open mouth and Lexa thinks this moment is better than any. She _really_ wants to taste her lips.

So she does. She leans forward and captures her lips in a very soft kiss. Lexa can tell Clarke is taken by surprise at first, but she pulls together quickly enough and responds to the kiss. Lexa doesn't move, giving Clarke full control of the kiss, allowing her to back away or continue on her own accord. Clarke chooses the latter option. She kisses back just a fraction harder and her hand reaches up to rest on Lexa's back. Clarke's lips are soft against Lexa's and it makes her lightheaded. When Clarke opens her mouth for the second kiss, Lexa does as well, but continues to let Clarke lead. There's a silent agreement that they do not intensify the kiss; that it stays gentle and innocent. They part just enough for Lexa to pivot her head for a new angle. Just centimeters away from another kiss and-

"Lex, you're needed outside." Costia's voice pulls the two away from each other like two school girls getting caught kissing in an empty classroom. "Oh, sorry, did I interrupt something?" There's a teasing smirk on Costia's face when Lexa turns her hard glare in her direction. She very well knows she interrupted something.

"No, you didn't interrupt anything." Lexa says with so much sarcasm through her clenched teeth. "What is it, Costia?"

"I don't know, I just heard you were needed outside or something and everyone is looking for you. _You_ must be Clarke." She walks toward them, hand out to shake Clarke's. "I'm Costa, Lexa's _bestest_ friend."

Lexa swats her "bestest" friend's hand away. "Not after what you just did." She growls. She hears Clarke giggle behind her and turns around. "You think it is funny?" She asks with a smile.

"The interrupting, no." Clarke says. She leans up to kiss Lexa on the cheek. "But you're super cute when you're frustrated. Let's go see what's going on." And she pulls a flustered Lexa along.

Back outside, both Lexa's and Clarke's friends await. Lexa introduces Clarke to Miller and Luna and in return meets Jasper and Monty.

"What is it that's so important for me to be present?" Lexa asks uninterestedly. She can already tell this was very much _not_ something important.

"Is that still your first drink?" Anya asks beside Raven. Lexa rolls her eyes because she already knows where this is leading.

"No," She says matter-of-factly. "This is my second cup."

"Oh no sweetie." Raven says as she walks to her. "That is unacceptable. _I_ will make you a drink." She smirks and takes the drink from Lexa to go to the kitchen.

"Raven's drinks are almost undrinkable." Clarke says. "It's gonna get you fucked up."

"That's the point!" Anya yells from her spot. "She just made me one too and I'm definitely feelin' it."

"I didn't plan on getting as drunk as you guys." Lexa said to her friends.

"Yeah, because you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of Clarke." Echo says, earning a glare from Lexa. "Clarke, tell her to drink! She'll listen to you, I'm sure!"

Clarke turns to the girl and with a playful smile says, "Don't want to embarrass yourself around me, huh?"

Lexa smiles back. "Well, I kind of have a cool, badass vibe, don't I? Have to keep that up."

"Cool, yes. I haven't seen that badass part though. More like charming."

Lexa dramatically places her hand over her chest. "What about when I scared off that creep?"

Clarke shrugs teasingly. "It was hot and charming, not badass." She looks back at the girl who is giving her a look of disbelief. "Okay, yeah, it was a little badass. But a lot hot. You have to drink more though! You can't let me get drunk all by my lonesome!" She pouts up at Lexa and takes her hands into her own. Lexa looks at the puppy-dog expression and knows she lost.

"Fine." She sighs in faux annoyance and rolls her eyes. "But to be fair, you're already drunk."

Lexa is only a few inches taller than the blonde, but Clarke pulls herself up a bit on her toes until she's eye level with her and leans in so their lips are merely a single breath away from connecting. Lexa's own breath catches in her throat as she sees the twinkle in Clarke's winter blue eyes and the sexy playful smirk grow on her soft and tempting lips. It's obvious how much more confident Clarke has grown in the last few minutes since Lexa kissed her and it makes Lexa very happy.

"I guess you'll just have to catch up, won't you?" Clarke says in a velvety voice that gives Lexa goosebumps. Clarke laughs lowly and clears the remaining inch of space between them with a chaste kiss.

"About damn time." Raven's voice comes up beside them. "Clarke was wondering if you'd ever kiss her." She hands Lexa a solo cup and walks off toward Anya. Lexa looks at Clarke with a small smile and a lifted eyebrow.

"You didn't think I would kiss you?"

"I was hoping you would."

"Now that everybody is here," Raven says to the group of fourteen. "I've got a little game for us to play. It's called Shot Eyes _._ I kicked that couple that were finger fucking at the table out so we can sit in a circle. Bell, Miller, Murphy?"

At the sound of their names, the three turn around to grab something by the entrance of the house. Lexa is happy to see Miller make friends so easily. When they turn back around, each of them has a large tray covered in shots. They carefully walk to the table and start placing the shots onto it.

Raven has an evil smile on her face when she starts explaining the game. "The game is simple: we all start off with our heads down. When someone gives the go, everyone looks up at the same time and looks at someone. If you're looking at them, but they're not looking at you, you're safe. If you're both looking at each other, you yell 'shot eyes' and then their name and you both take a shot. There are several different kinds of shots in here, ladies. Only four are filled with water. The game is over when all shots are taken or there are only two people left. If you get out before then, you have to take your punishment, whatever it may be. If you're caught cheating by not taking the shot, you're out."

"This game is meant for everyone to get fucked up, but if you're a dangerous kind of fucked up, you're out." Bellamy says. "Don't overdo it if you know your limit."

"This is madness." Clarke says as Murphy sets the last shot glass onto the table.

"We should have stayed on the balcony." Lexa mutters.

"Nonsense, it'll be fun!" Jasper says coming up behind them.

"But you two are being separated." Costia says, pulling Clarke with her to the table. Lexa sits between Miller and Raven, and Clarke is a few people away to her right stuck between Costia and Luna.

Lexa is safe during the first three rounds; Clarke takes a shot with Murphy on the first round. On the fourth go, Lexa looks right beside her at Raven, who is staring right back at her. The shot of Fireball burns going down her throat. Luck is not on her side on the next round either when her eyes meet Bellamy's dark ones. This game is going to be the death of her. Miller forfeits the game after his second shot, reminding everyone that he is the designated driver and needs the rest of the time to fully sober up. He's told to make an animal noise every time a guy takes a shot. On the ninth round, she and Monroe take shots together, along with Raven and Octavia and Echo and Jasper. By the time she's on her fifth shot, she's already had one shot of Fireball, two shots of vodka, a shot of Jack, and a shot of Malibu Rum. Clarke has had one shot more than her, but seems to be going strong still.

(Either that or she's just really good at hiding her drunkenness)

Clarke's and Lexa's eyes meet for the first time in the game on the thirteenth round. "Shot eyes, Clarke!" Lexa yells with a laugh at the same time Clarke says it with Lexa's name. Their eyes stay locked on each other's as they take their shots together. They're caught looking at each other again in the next round and Clarke announces she's taken one of the three remaining water shots. The entire backyard is spinning now and she tries to get up to go to the bathroom, but stumbles into her chair with a grumbled blame on the table being in the way. Miller cuts her off from drinking anymore and she's out of the game. They let her go to the bathroom before they give her her punishment. When she comes back, she finds Bellamy stripped down to his boxer briefs and is told she missed Echo making out with Anya.

"Lexa, your punishment is that you have to ask the neighbor for condoms." Octavia says. Lexa has no problem with that and the game stops for a bit so everyone can watch.

it takes a few knocks on the door before a man opens it and waits for her to explain herself. "Hey man, I was really hoping you could spare me a condom or two."

"Don't they have enough of those at your college party?" The man asks. He's surprisingly not super pissed and Lexa guesses it's not the first time something like this has happened to him since he's lived by a house frat house.

"They aren't sharing. Look, I really want to beat the batter, but I don't want to make cupcakes, you know what I'm saying?" She can hear the group that's doing a poor job of hiding also do a poor job of stifling their laughter and she fights hard not to laugh either. The man in front of her just stares at her in confusion. "I'm tryna get my dick yet, but I ain't lookin' to make babies. Can you help me out, man?"

The man gives her an up and down look and chortles before nodding and closing the door. When he comes back, he hands her three Magnums. She thanks him and heads back to the table in the backyard with the group in a fit of hysteria.

Jasper is out after round sixteen and his punishment is a permanent marker drawing of a hairy penis ejaculating into his mouth drawn by Clarke. Monroe is out the next round when she leaves to go puke in the bushes and her punishment is... puking in the bushes. Murphy quits in the same round and is forced to kiss a very drunk Bellamy. Raven and Octavia both make sure to take pictures and record it for blackmail. Monty passes out and is given a matching penis drawing as his best friend. Clarke, Octavia, and Luna are out a few rounds later; Octavia has to sing _What Does The Fox Say_ whenever someone yells it out for the rest of the night (which is a lot); Clarke speaks in a strong country accent for the next two hours; Luna is ordered to rap everything she says for the rest of the night. There are three sets of shots left when Costia forfeits and is dared to eat half a tube of wasabi without drinking water. Anya and Raven winning is really no big surprise to anyone and whoever wants the last shots takes them.

After the game, everyone is very much drunk and stupid. Monroe is almost passed out in her seat at the table while Monty is still out and Jasper and Luna are singing _Brick House_ at the top of their lungs. Clarke moves to sit beside Lexa and everyone talks and drunkenly bonds while the rest of the party people inside are dancing and singing and shouting.

"So Lexa," Octavia interrupts Lexa's and Clarke's conversation. "Got any hot single Army guy friends?" She laughs and Clarke gives her an incredulous look before shouting out to her.

"What does the fox say?" Octavia groans in annoyance before breaking out in weird sounds and the question is forgotten.

Its late in the night by the time Miller piles them all into the car, Lexa fighting her way to sit in the front seat beside him. Monroe is barely conscious and Echo falls asleep in the back seat almost immediately. Lexa kisses a drunken Clarke goodbye before they make their way back to base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr @ gayassheda


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Damn! Look at the rack she's got on her."  
> "I call dibs, ya'll." Howitt says stupidly. "She's lookin' right at me, man."  
> "Holy good earth cleavage." Anya mumbles from her spot on the ground. Lexa would shoot her a glare if she wasn't so transfixed on the girl she hadn't seen for an entire week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm like, super late on this update. My finger has healed enough to type, so now I'm finally able to get back into writing.

At first, Lexa loved the idea of playing soccer again for the Fort Trikru team. When they were told at the mass meeting two weeks ago that there would be a game against their sister Army base, Azgeda Airfield, during the fair this weekend to help raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, Lexa was one of the first people to sign up. She didn't think about how much time practice every day would take from the little amount of free time she already only had. She didn't expect the other players to take this game so seriously until they explained to her that the Ice Nation (Azgeda's team name) always beat the Woods Clan (Trikru's team name) in every single sport they played during their annual charity fairs. Lexa didn't expect to start taking the game so seriously herself until the team made her captain due to her vast history with the sport and her obvious skill with the ball.

Despite all the time she could be with Clarke being taken up by the endless amount of practice for a single game for a good cause, Lexa doesn't regret signing up. Yes, she very much does miss seeing the gorgeous blonde artist, but she _loves_ competition. And she plans on wiping the floor with the Ice Nation.

Lexa searches the field for her teammates, looking for someone available to pass the ball to. Right now, they are having a small game with the players split into two teams. Lexa's team is, of course, winning. Lincoln is just a bit a ways down the field and Anya is running toward him, but other than that he's wide open. Lexa kicks the ball toward him and it's a clear shot. He stops the ball with his foot and psych's Anya out before dragging it down the field to the defending team's goal. There's no space for Lincoln to make a goal and Lexa is too far away so she starts running to the post. Lincoln passes the ball to Staff Sergeant Carter, who passes it to First Sergeant Sanchez, who kicks it back to Carter, who has no other choice but to give it back to Lincoln. Lexa finally reaches near the goal post in time for Lincoln to kick the ball to her. She taps it back to him and darts past a player from the other team as Lincoln immediately kicks it back to her. Lexa sends the ball speeding toward the goal post. The goalie jumps for the ball but misses it by an inch. Her team players run at her with big smiles and encouraging words and pats on her back and head. When Lincoln joins her, they share a wide smile and a bump of their fists.

"Just like old times, huh, River?" Lexa says.

"Damn right, Woods." Lincoln says back before running back to his spot on the field before the ball is brought back into the game.

When the game is over, it's 2-1 with Lexa's team being the victors. A hard game was played, leaving the entire team as a whole lying in the grass catching their breath or sitting on the metal bleachers drinking water; either way dripping in sweat from the sun, despite the breeze blowing around them. Lexa is in the grass with Anya, who is checking her phone every few minutes, sending a reply every other check. Lincoln and Miller are one of the only people on the field who are still standing and still being active after the ass kicking the game gave everyone; Lincoln is teaching Miller footwork and cool tricks.

"Talking to Raven?" Lexa asks, turning her head on the grass to face Anya, who is sitting spread eagle.

"Would it be any of your business if I was?" Anya asks. Lexa rolls her eyes at her friend's lack of a direct answer.

"Don't bite my head off for asking. Damn." Lexa says, whipping her towel at Anya's thigh and earning a hard smack on her own leg for it. "You're just mad because Lincoln was tripping you up and down this field all damn game." Anya hits Lexa's thigh harder this time, making the team captain laugh.

"Don't worry, An," Lincoln says as he passes the ball to Miller, a smug smile playing on his face. "You're going to be on our team for the actual game."

"The winning time, am I right?" Mcneil, one of the girls on the team bellows out from the bleachers and everyone shouts their agreements.

Lexa chuckles and takes a couple of gulps from her water bottle.

"Hot damn, look at that one right there." One of the guys says in the larger group of teammates near Lexa and Anya.

"Damn!" Comes a response from one of the other guys, Nazario. "Look at the rack she's got on her."

Curiosity gets Lexa to sit up right and look around.

"I call dibs, ya'll." Howitt says stupidly. "She's lookin' right at me, man."

"Probably wondering how someone can be so damn ugly." Mcneil says and the rest of the team laughs.

Except for Lexa, who has just caught sight of who the guys are talking about it and already feels the urge to rip their heads off for being such... _men._

Clarke is walking toward the field, eyes scanning the faces of the men and women on the team. Lexa gets up from her spot on the ground and brushes off all of the dirt and grass she can, receiving help from Anya for her backside. Clarke catches sight of her and a bright smile forms to show her white teeth. She's wearing a black leather jacket with a low cut dark blue shirt and very light blue, very ripped jeans tucked into black combat boots. Her blonde hair is curled slightly and the breeze picks it up behind her in a way that just makes her look like a goddess in Lexa's eyes.

"Holy good earth cleavage." Anya mumbles from her spot on the ground. Lexa would shoot her a glare if she wasn't so transfixed on the girl she hadn't seen for an entire week.

"She's coming this way, watch and learn guys." Howitt says, smacking Sanchez's chest repeatedly. "Hey baby girl! You must be tired! 'Cause you've been runnin' through my mind all day long!"

Lexa's fists are clenched when Lincoln pats her shoulder. "Relax and go over to her, Lex. You know that'll stop them immediately."

Lexa knows that's true and she wants to save Clarke from the next rounds of inappropriate slander and pickup lines from the idiots around her, so she makes her way to Clarke, who isn't too far away anymore. When she's just feet away from the blonde, she sees her eyes scan her full body and Lexa stops in her spot. Clarke closes the space and is about to wrap her arms around Lexa when the brunette steps back. Clarke freezes in the action and gives Lexa a puzzled look.

"We just finished practice. I'm sweaty and smell gross." Lexa explains.

Clarke's expression is unconcerned now as she looks at Lexa.

"Really, Lexa? Do you really think I care? I want to hug you so come here and hug me, dammit."

Lexa smiles at the girl and pulls Clarke into an embrace. When they pull partially away, Clarke tilts her head up for Lexa to kiss her, which she does without hesitation. Clarke's smiling into the kiss like it's her birthday and Lexa has to be the one to pull away. When she looks down at Clarke, the girl is still smiling as though she has a secret she's waiting to spill.

"What?" Lexa asks with a quirk of her eyebrow.

Clarke looks Lexa up and down once more. "I haven't seen you in uniform before." She says. "You look hot."

She had forgotten she was wearing her ACUPAT pants and tan t-shirt. Lexa knows she's blushing at those words and tries to hide it by looking away. She looks off to the guys further down the field that had just been hitting on Clarke less than a minute ago; most of them are looking anywhere but at them now while a couple are smiling dumbly at Lexa (probably thinking of things to tease her about tomorrow); Howitt, however, is staring at them with the most defeated look on his face. Lexa shoots him a hard glare and he immediately looks away, the defeat wiped away and replaced with a mix between fear and obedience. Anya is waving them over to her and Clarke takes Lexa's hand in hers and pulls her in the direction.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that." Lexa says beside her now, pointing to the guys that were just calling out to Clarke before they saw who she was there for.

Clarke shrugs. "It's nothing new."

Lexa doesn't like the thought of that and gives herself a reminder to make Howitt pay for the discomfort he caused Clarke, even if she doesn't flat out say it did.

When they reach Anya, Lexa introduces Clarke to Lincoln and Miller for the first time.

"What are you doing here?" Lexa asks, sitting down back in the grass and pulling Clarke to sit in her lap. "I mean, not that I'm not happy to see you, I'm very happy to..."

Clarke chuckles at Lexa's babble. "Anya texted me and told me to come by today because you would actually be free for the rest of the day after your soccer practice. And this is one of the only times these last two weeks that you have time. I'm sorry if you wanted that time for yourself, Anya just told me--"

"That you keep telling me how much you wish you could see her and kiss her again and--"

" _Thank you, Anya_." Lexa interrupts harshly to make her friend stop talking. She feels Clarke silently laugh in her lap and Lexa squeezes her waist playfully. "I am glad you came, Clarke. How did you get here, though?"

"Anya was telling me how to get onto the base and where to find you guys." Clarke explains.

Lexa looks to Anya. "That's who you were texting this whole time?" Anya smirks and nods.

"Yep."

"How did you even get each other's numbers?"

"I took it off of your phone the day after that party. When you fell asleep on the couch."

"You two have been texting for _two weeks_ without me even knowing??" Lexa exclaims in surprise.

"Oh, don't get jealous, Woods. I don't want to steal your girl."

Lexa's heart jumps at hearing the words _'your girl'_. Clarke tightens her hands around Lexa's a fraction and Lexa rubs Clarke's hand with her thumbs. It had been a little over two weeks since they shared their first kiss and they had only seen each other a handful of times after it due to Clarke's school work and Lexa's job and soccer practice. When they did see each other, it was either at the same park as before or in the café from their first (well, second) meet up and Clarke usually did her school work. Lexa didn't complain; any time with Clarke was time well spent. But for the last week, they hadn't been able to see each other due to the workload they both had to deal with.

"You should have said something." Lexa says. "I would have gone to see you."

"You are always the one driving to see me." Clarke turns in Lexa's lap to face her better and pouts cutely down at the green eyes. "I wanted to surprise you."

Lexa smiles softly up at her. "Well you did. I've very glad to see you, Clarke."

Clarke is smiling at Lexa as the latter does the same until Anya breaks the intimate look. "Well this is disgustingly cute. I'm going to go harass Costia at work." She pushes herself off the ground to brushes off the grass before waving to everyone and walking off.

What did you have planned today?" Lexa asks Clarke when Lincoln goes back to kicking the ball around with Miller.

"Well, I was glad I managed to get here when you finished practice, because I was thinking maybe we could go get some food? I drove straight here from school, so I haven't eaten yet."

Lexa nods and pats Clarke's back in indication that she's getting up. When Clarke is on her feet, Lexa gets up and puts her arm around Clarke's waist.

"Let's go to my barracks first so I can shower and change, okay?" Clarke nods and Lexa guides her to the sidewalk with one last death glare at Howitt.

~~~

Lexa opens the door to her barracks to actually find it empty for once.

"Welcome to my home." Lexa says. "Would you like something to drink?"

"What do you have?" Clarke asks, taking in her surroundings. Lexa goes to the refrigerator while Clarke roams around the living space.

"We have water, Hawaiian Punch pouches, Coke, beer, and coffee." Lexa names off.

"You have Hawaiian Punch pouches?" Clarke repeats in amusement.

"Costia loves them." Lexa says back.

"Is it tap water or..."

"Aquafina bottles."

"I'll take a water." Clarke says. Lexa grabs a bottle and joins Clarke in the living room.

"I won't be long, okay?" She says, handing Clarke the drink. "Let me go to my room and get some clothes really quick."

"Do I not get to see your room?" Clarke teases. Lexa smiles at her and gestures to join her.

It's not really interesting." Lexa says when they walk in. "I don't have much in decoration."

Clarke steps in and looks around the room, Lexa watching her nervously to the side. Clarke takes in the white walls with no pictures or posters or anything hanging. The desk on the right side of the room is almost completely clear except for a digital clock, a lamp, a laptop, and a book. Clarke walks over to the bed draped with a black comforter. She sits down and catches the picture framed on the night stand. Lexa watches intently as she takes the picture and examines it. In the picture stands two parents with a teenager, a child around eight to ten years old, and a toddler. The father wears his hair very short and is dressed in the older version of the Army uniform pants and tan shirt, showing off his muscular and tattooed arms. His eyes are a sparkling green the same shade as the ones staring deep into Clarke right this very moment. His smile is wide and Clarke is sure that whenever she finally gets to see Lexa smile that brightly, it will look the same. His jawline, Clarke notices, is just as sharp as Lexa's. The mother is tall and thin and carries herself with such a straight and elegant posture, Clarke thinks it might actually run in the family. Her own eyes are a dark chocolate and her hair falls in the beautiful and mix of curl and wave that Lexa fashions. She's laughing in the picture, her mouth open as she looks at the teenager in between her and her husband as she holds the youngest family member to her side. Lexa looks so much like her father with a touch of her mother's femininity and her brown hair. The teenager in the center of the picture looks to probably be in high school. He sports just a slightly longer version of hair as his father and his features are fairly equal in share of his parents; the same woodsy green eyes and smile as his sister and dad, and his mother's soft jawline and nose. Even if Lexa wasn't the only little girl in the picture and didn't look so much like her parents, Clarke would have been able to immediately tell it was a younger version of the girl. The only difference from the girl standing anxiously in the room with her now and the girl in the picture is that the little girl in the photo is obviously much younger and _happier._ Little Lexa has the exact same laughing smile on her face as the grown man whose shoulders she is sat upon. Her hair is wild in what looks like a windy day. Her face is so different, not from the age difference of now, but in the way she looks so much more euphoric and free in the picture, while in real life she looks so guarded and troubled.

The background tells Clarke that they're at some sort of fair. The sun is still up and a couple of carnival games are behind the family. The older of the children holds a handful of thick plastic rings in his hands and looks ready to toss another one in the cameraman's direction. Lexa's legs are straight forward and one of her arms is out in front of her, having just thrown a plastic ring herself, while the other is clutching her father's head. Her father is holding a few rings in his own hands, probably handing her them one at a time. The toddler in their mother's arms carries a stuffed elephant in his hands that they probably won in another carnival game earlier on in the day. 

"This is your family." Clarke says. It's not a question since it's so obvious that it is. Lexa makes a single tense nod of agreement and sits down next to Clarke. Clarke runs her fingers over the glossy paper where Little Lexa smiles. "You look so cute in here. So happy. How old were you?"

Lexa lets out a pained chuckle that doesn't go unnoticed by Clarke. "I was nine. And I _was_ happy." She says quietly.

Clarke looks up at Lexa, scanning her face carefully. She shows no sign of any sort of emotion and, even in the little amount of time they've spent together, Clarke knows she's holding something in, she just can't tell what that something is...

"Where are they?" Clarke asks, looking at the emerald eyes that are staring at the picture in Clarke's hands still. She doesn't look away from it when she speaks, and her voice is hard at the single word she says.

"Gone." She stays sitting down in silence while Clarke tries to understand what she means by _'gone'_. After a moment, Lexa stands from the bed and sifts through her closet for clothes to wear. "I'm going to shower now. I won't be long." She walks out of the room at that, leaving Clarke sitting alone with the framed photo still in her hands.

~~~

After lunch, Lexa decides to show Clarke around the base a bit. "There's really not much to do here anyway, so why not just give a tour?"

Lexa takes Clarke to training fields and shows her where the commissary and gym and other barracks are before deciding to take her to where she knows Costia probably is. She's right; they find Costia in the K9 training area, sending Elise off to find something hidden.

"Hey, Cos." Lexa calls out from the other side of the gate, leaning against it. Costia looks over to them and smiles brightly, waving at them. She watches as Elise sniffs around until she stops in one spot and starts barking. Costia runs over and pats the German Shepherd for her to heel. She digs up the fake bomb and sends a dog treat flying into the air that Elise catches. She calls for the dog to follow her as she makes her way over Lexa and Clarke.

"Hey! I heard Clarke was here! Maybe now you can shut up about wanting to see her, Lex." Costia teases.

"This is why you guys are never allowed to come with me to see her." Lexa shoots Costia a hard look. "You and Anya always have to embarrass me."

"You're the one that sounds like a lovesick puppy." Costia shoots back with a teasing smile. Lexa knows she's blushing.

Clarke laughs, though there's a blush on her own cheeks too. "So you're a K9 worker?"

Costia nods happily. "Elise here sniffs out bombs. We get sent to the airport sometimes to check luggage or she sniffs out cars at the gates around here."

"That sounds really interesting." Clarke says. "You basically already have a job when you get out."

"Got that right." Costia says back. "Not to mention I love dogs. And Elise is such a good girl. So what are you two doing today besides visiting me?"

"I'm showing her around." Lexa tells her, receiving a disgusted look in return.

"There's nothing to show here." Costia says. "Seriously, why do you think she always goes to see you instead, Clarke? This place is so boring."

Clarke laughs. "That's what she told me when she was done showing me the seven playgrounds you guys have around here."

"Yeah, I'm sure you probably regret coming now, huh?" Lexa laughs.

"I don't!" Clarke exclaims. "I really don't! I'm honestly just happy I get to see you, Lex, I promise."

"Alright, alright, you two go on now, I've gotta get back to work." Costia says, backing away with Elise. "I'll see you back at home, Lex?"

"See you later, Cos." Lexa says with a wave of her hand. Clarke bids her goodbyes as well and they set off for more of the tour.

 ~~~

Clarke's lips are moving slowly against Lexa's on the couch back in the barracks. They had finished the tour a little over an hour ago and had decided to get back to Lexa's and watch something on Netflix. It didn't take long for _just_ Netflix to start becoming Netflix and chill. They had slowly gone from Clarke cuddling up to Lexa for the movie to Clarke almost completely on top of Lexa as they kiss. It is a gentle and careful kiss. One of Lexa's hands is softly caressing Clarke's arm while the other has moved from cupping her cheek to hooked around the back of her neck. Clarke is pressed against Lexa's chest with her hands against the girl's shoulders.

Lexa decides that Clarke's lips are one of her favorite things; along with everything else about the blonde. Her lips are so soft; the softest Lexa has had the privilege of kissing (and she's kissed quite a few lips). The only sounds in the room are the low volume of the movie on the screen in front of them and the smacking of their lips parting occasionally. This, Lexa would think if she wasn't so preoccupied by much more interesting thoughts, would be one of the only times the place is actually decently quiet. Costia is still at work and Anya is who knows where and none of her friends have barged in like they usually do. Anya must have warned them not to come over.

Clarke moves one of her hands up to run her fingers along Lexa's jawline, because _damn_ she loves that feature of her. Her other hand swings back to the nape of her neck and pulls Lexa into her a little more. The angle is slightly weird; Clarke is too far down on Lexa's body so she has to stretch up a bit, and now that she's pulled Lexa in, the brunette doesn't seem to be in a very comfortable position. Clarke readjusts a little bit to pull herself just a smidge higher up on Lexa's body, giving themselves a slight relief. It does, however, give them the ability to deepen the kiss, and Clarke presses harder against Lexa's lips.

Lexa teases Clarke's bottom lip with her tongue and Clarke parts her lips to give her access. When Lexa's tongue meets Clarke's she sucks in a breath and Lexa indulges herself with the pink muscle sliding against her own. They hadn't exactly had the chance to kiss so passionately yet, since all of their time together was spent in public. Clarke didn't have a problem with making out in front of strangers, but Lexa wasn't a fan of such intimate public displays of affection. It didn't take long for Clarke to realize that Lexa was a little old fashioned when it came to relationships. Lexa was so intrigued by everything Clarke had to say, keeping eye contact so much that it would make Clarke sometimes forget what she was saying from being so distracted by how bright her green eyes are sometimes. If Lexa wasn't actually interested in something Clarke was talking about, it didn't show; she added her input at just the right moments that showed she wasn't just staring at Clarke and dozing off. Lexa held doors open for Clarke wherever they went, including back to Clarke's car when they were going back to their homes. She rarely ever pulled her phone out and only did so when she was expecting an important message or call. Lexa was the poster child for chivalry.

Clarke giggles into Lexa's mouth and Lexa pulls away, a confused smile on her now swollen lips. "What's so funny?"

Clarke looks back at Lexa and shakes her head. "Nothing. I just..." She hesitates. "I like this." She lays her head down on Lexa's chest and listens to her heartbeat. She catches sight of the tribal tattoo on the girl's right bicep that she noticed earlier in the day when she first found her on the field. She's curious about it's meaning, but decides to ask later.

Lexa wraps her arms around Clarke's back and sighs lightly. "Me too."

Clarke lifts her head up again to look at Lexa. Her eyes drift down to Lexa's lips and back up to her eyes. "I love your lips. And kissing them. You're a very good kisser."

She watches as those lips curve upward and Lexa's tongue slides out to wet them. "You're not too bad, yourself." She says, pecking Clarke's mouth.

A different kind of smile is gracing Clarke's lips now and Lexa notices it. She also notices the way her pupils start to dilate. "I'm pretty good at other things too." Clarke says with a little more husk in her voice that makes the hairs on the back of Lexa's neck stand.

"Why don't you show me?" Lexa quirks a brow at the girl above her suggestively.

Clarke smirks down at the her before kissing her again, allowing Lexa to slip her tongue back into her mouth as she shifts to straddle the brunette. The kiss escalates quickly and Lexa's hands start roaming all over Clarke's body. She grabs Clarke's ass with both hands and squeezes hard and Clarke lets out the first moan. Lexa pulls away and looks up at the sapphire orbs looking back with such an intense desire.

"Do you want to move to my bed?" Lexa breathes.

Clarke shakes her, that smirk playing on her lips again. "No. I want you right here."

There's a hungry grumble in Lexa's throat when she latches back onto Clarke's lips. Their tongues tangle together in wet kisses now and Lexa's hands slide from Clarke's ass to her lower back, slipping underneath her shirt and over her warm skin. Clarke shutters above her at the touch and another small moan is swallowed by Lexa.

It's not too late in the day, meaning Costia won't be home for another few hours, and Anya is out still so Lexa figures she's out with Echo and some of the other girls and won't be home until around the same time as Costia. It also means that the people most likely to interrupt that _don't_ actually live here are probably with Anya as well. They have plenty of time to do whatever it is they're going to do.

Lexa separates from kissing Clarke's lips and moves to suck on her neck right away. Clarke sighs heavily and tilts her head to the side to give the girl more access. She kisses the sensitive flesh before biting gently and then sucking, earning a quiet moan from the blonde. Clarke drops herself onto Lexa's body more, placing one of her legs between Lexa's. Lexa brings the leg that's now between Clarke's up to make contact with Clarke's center. Clarke slides down against her thigh and gasps. Lexa pulls away again.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She asks, watching Clarke open mouthed and eyes half closed. "I imagined our first time to be kind of special, not on my shitty couch."

"Our first time was the night we met and we were too drunk to remember it." Clarke breathes, grinding down on Lexa's leg again and biting her bottom lip.

"You know what I mean." Lexa chuckles, nipping at Clarke's lip when she pulls it out from her between her teeth. "Our second first time."

"If you want to wait that's okay, Lexa." Clarke assures, stopping her movements against Lexa.

Lexa shakes her head. "I just want to make sure you're a hundred percent sure you want to do this now."

Clarke smiles and kisses Lexa reassuringly. "I'm sure."

Lexa nods in understanding before their lips are together once again and Lexa's hands are greedier, one running further up Clarke's back under her shirt until it reaches the clip to her bra while the other gropes her ass again, controlling Clarke's grinding on her leg. Clarke's breathing gets heavier when Lexa pushes her leg up more for her to grind harder against. Lexa unclips Clarke's bra with her one hand from under her shirt, and just when Clarke pulls up to help Lexa take her shirt off, the front door opens and two different voices are laughing at something.

"Whoa-- shit!" Anya exclaims, and Clarke is off of Lexa in less than a second, sitting up on what started off as her side of the couch as she runs her fingers through her blonde locks and tries to catch her breath. She keeps her wide eyes on Lexa's annoyed ones, too embarrassed to looked in the direction of the onlookers.

"Dammit, Anya!" Lexa yells, narrowing her eyes at the tall girl and Echo, who is standing right beside her with a big smile on her face. Lexa sits up and scoots closer to Clarke, who is still looking at her but with a much less embarrassed expression and a ghost of a laugh on her lips.

"What?" Anya yells back, closing the door behind the two of them. "How the hell was I supposed to know you'd be ten seconds away from leaving your mark on that couch too before I walked in? Your bedroom is literally like five steps away."

"You're the one to talk, An." Echo chuckles as she grabs a beer from the fridge. (Right at home immediately.) "How many times have you been caught bumpin' uglies with someone on that thing?"

"You have me mistaken for Costia." Anya snorts, cracking open her own can of beer. "I have only done it _once_ , thank you very much. And she only ate me out, no uglies were bumped. But hey, we all make sure to clean the cushions after it happens, don't worry." Anya says to Clarke when she notices the growing disgust on her face.

"God, I hate you so much, you know that?" Lexa groans, throwing her head back against the couch. Clarke leans back as well and sets her chin on Lexa's shoulder, curling into her affectionately. (And hiding the blush on her cheeks.)

"You should have put a sock on the doorknob or something." Echo says, sitting on the floor at the end of the coffee table and sliding two cans of beer down the table for the two of them.

"Oh gee, if we wanted to get up and do something, don't you think we would have just walked to my room?" Lexa rolls her eyes.

"It's your own fault then. You could have texted me or something." Anya says, walking over to them with a slice of cold pizza in her hand.

"I'll keep that in mind next time." Lexa mumbles, squeezing Clarke against her gently. Clarke giggles into her neck.

"You know," Anya says. "I wish we had walked in just a minute later."

"Why's that?" Echo asks.

"Clarke. Shirtless." Anya says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world and Echo is the stupidest person ever for not catching on immediately.

Clarke laughs. "You'd have seen much more than just my shirt off. Which reminds me." She pulls her back off of the couch and stretches her arms behind her to hook her bra back on.

Anya blows out a breath. "Damn, Lex." She says. "You are one lucky sonofabitch." She winks at Clarke and Lexa rolls her eyes and laughs, pulling Clarke into her again.

They watch TV and talk until Clarke leaves to go back home. Lexa goes to sleep feeling like the luckiest girl on the base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ask me anything about the story or another story I'm writing or just about anything at all in my ask box on Tumblr @ GayAssHeda
> 
> Terms  
> ACUPAT: Army Combat Universal Pattern


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You're too beautifully dressed to rub my sweat all over." Lexa says.  
> Clarke smirks, holding back her inappropriate comment. Lexa catches on quickly and Clarke watches as her ears and cheeks turn red and she looks away.  
> "I'm sure Clarke here wouldn't mind you rubbing anything all over her." Anya says, wrapping an arm around the brunette and grinning between the two.  
> "And by 'anything' she means your body." Raven says. "Isn't that right, princess?"
> 
> or
> 
> It's the night of the fair and it's fluffly and cute as fuck. And then gets smutty as fuck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was supposed to also have the morning after, but I didn't expect to write so much before it! I hope you like it!

It's Friday, and Clarke has been anticipating this day for most of the week. After the surprise visit to Fort Trikru to see Lexa, they had once again been too busy to see each other. With the charity fair getting closer and closer, Lexa had found herself drowning in work, between work from her actual job and practice for their game against Azgeda Airfield, she barely even had time to text Clarke. So when Friday finally hits and Clarke gets out of her last class, she's practically jumping with excitement.

It's around three o'clock when she starts getting ready. Lexa had managed to text her earlier in the day to let her know the game would be starting at five o'clock; that was all she'd heard from the girl. Costia had texted her earlier to let her know Lexa was too busy to talk, which Clarke had guessed anyway. Lexa was with the team all day long working her ass off, according to Costia, who had gotten off work already and was watching them practice.

"This and this." Clarke says, pulling out a maroon sun skirt and a white silk top from her closet and showing it to Octavia, putting it against her own body. Octavia, who sits at the end of the bed, throws her body against the bed with a loud histrionic groan.

"For the last time, Clarke, every single thing you've pulled out is good! Lexa will love anything you're wearing. You could go wearing a trashcan and clown makeup and Lexa would still think you're the most beautiful person at the fair. She's wrong because I'll be there, but..."

"I'm serious, O. Help me out, please." Clarke pleads. Octavia catches the desperation in her look and sighs.

"That outfit you're holding looks great, but it's only late February and it's going to get pretty cold when the sun goes down." Clarke's face falls at the reminder. Octavia gets up from the bed and takes the top from Clarke's hands, throws it onto the bed, digs through the closet, pulls out a pair of dark skinny jeans, and tosses it onto the bed as well. "I say go with this. It's simple, yet sexy. The top will show off your cleavage and the jeans make your ass look damn good. If that doesn't get you laid, I don't know what will."

Clarke smiles and grabs the articles of clothing from the bed before leaning in to Octavia's space and pecking the girl on the cheek. "I can always count on you, O."

When Raven gets home late, Clarke rushes her to get dress and they head off. Thanks to Raven's job keeping her there way longer than she was supposed to be there, the group arrives at 4:45PM; they make it to the field at 4:55PM thanks to the lack of available parking spots.

They climb the crowded metal bleachers in search of anyone they might know to no luck and sit a few rows from the bottom. On the field, Clarke spots Lexa stretching with Anya and Lincoln. She points them out to Raven and Octavia, who start calling hers and Anya's names to grab their attention. When Lexa finally looks up at the sound of her name and catches Clarke waving excitedly at her, she smiles and jogs toward the bleachers. Clarke climbs down to meet her, opting to go down the seats instead of the walking all the way to the stairs; she bumps into everyone she passes as she descends, apologizing as she went.

"You made it." Lexa says, sounding almost relieved. "I was afraid you wouldn't make it to the game in time."

Clarke runs her hand though her blonde locks and looks up at the brunette apologetically. "Raven got caught up at work and got home late, I'm sorry."

Lexa grabs Clarke's hands and brings them up between them. She clasps them together and ducks her head to press her lips to them, leaving a quick kiss before looking back at Clarke with her charming smile.

"I am just happy you're here, Clarke."

"Come on, Commander! Were about to start!" Anya shouts from across the field. Lexa looks back at her and waves in reply before turning back to Clarke.

"I have to go now, but I'll see you when the game is over."

Clarke smiles happily up at her. "Can't wait to see you kick some ass."

Lexa's smile grows wider as she nods and leans in to kiss Clarke on the cheek before heading back onto the field. Clarke joins her best friends again and waits for the game to start, watching Lexa finish her warmup.

"You two..." Raven says with a cheeky grin and a shake of her head.

"What?" Clarke asks, bumping her shoulder against Raven's.

"You two are cute. I like the way she makes you smile."

Clarke scans her face for any sign of teasing, but sees none and smiles back at her before nudging her shoulder again and turning to the field.

The game starts and Clarke tries to keep up with it. Frankly, she's not a sports watcher, and she can barely even keep track of the ball being passed around so much. She doesn't know how long a game of soccer lasts, but it's been a while and neither team has scored yet, so you can't blame her when she starts to zone out. Instead of paying attention to whoever has the ball, she finds herself staring at number fourteen on the Woods Clan team. Lexa is jogging all over the field, her hair tied up in a pony tail and her face is visibly covered in sweat even from Clarke's spot on the bleachers. This is the first time Clarke sees Lexa in shorts and she watches her muscled calves and thighs move and tighten when she's relatively still or walking instead of running. Her short sleeved shirt is patched in sweat spots and shows off her muscular arms and that tribal tattoo she's only had the pleasure to see once, along with the one on her forearm.

"Here." Raven says, breaking Clarke's trance as she pushes a bottle of water into her hands. Clarke looks at her questioningly. "It looks like you need to quench that thirst of yours. You've been staring at Lexa the entire game. The ball is over _there_." Raven points far away from Lexa on the field where number eight on the Woods Clan is maneuvering around number twenty-five from the Ice Nation.

"I- uh..."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure." Octavia says, leaning forward to look past Raven at Clarke with a knowing smirk. "No need to make up an excuse, everyone in the stands can probably feel the sexual frustration seeping out of you right now.

Just then, a man sits besides Clarke on her other side and gives her a crooked smile. "Pretty hot day today, isn't it?" He asks. Clarke gives him a friendly smile and nods her head. The guy is wearing his Army uniform with the hat pushed up slightly to show his face better. He's not ugly, Clarke thinks, but he's not attractive either. She turns back to the game and tries find the ball again.

"My name is Justin Berry." The guys says, offering his hand to the blonde along with that same crooked smile.

"Clarke Griffin." She tells him, shaking his hand.

"Told you." Raven says behind her and Octavia laughs. Clarke fights back an eye roll and ignores them, turning once again to the game.

"You don't really look like you're enjoying the game. Not a sports person?" Justin asks.

Clarke shakes her head. "I'm enjoying the game. But no, I don't really care about sports. They bore me."

Justin laughs. "Well, Clarke. Today is your lucky day. I'm here to entertain you." The guys starts talking nonstop, making jokes, asking questions, flirting. Clarke is getting restless listening to him talk so much. She looks at Raven and Octavia for help, but they're laughing and shaking their heads and Clarke is stuck pretending to pay attention to him.

"And Trikru's number fourteen practically _passes_ the ball to Azgeda's eleven. Looks like Woods was a bit distracted there, let's hope she pulls her head out of the gutter." The commentator says through the speakers. Clarke looks away from Justin, searching the field for Lexa, who she finds jogging along with the rest of the two teams, a frustrated look on her face. "Frayer passes the ball to Henderson and - oh! So close, but Trikru's goalie, Summers, blocks it and sends it back to River."

When the ball gets out, Lexa takes the moment to look up at the bleachers. Her eyes move to Clarke's direction, but Clarke notices how she's not looking at her. She's looking at  _Justin_. Anya joins her, holding a bottle of water out to her and speaking. Lexa takes the bottle, not looking away from Justin and Clarke, and puts it to her mouth before pouring more of its contents onto her face. With a final look at Clarke, she tosses the bottle to the end of the field and jogs to her position.

"You are absolutely gorgeous, you know?" Justin says, breaking her attention from Lexa. "Whaddaya say I take you around the fair after this?"

Clarke opens her mouth to tell him she's not interested, when Costia's head pops between them from behind her with a big smile on her face.

"Clarke! Raven, Octavia! Here you are!" Costia exclaims. She looks over at Justin amusedly. "Raspberry, what're you doing here?"

Justin sighs loudly. "Talking to Clarke, do you mind?"

"I don't mind." Costia shrugs. "I'm glad you enjoy talking to Lexa's girl so much. She's a very pretty girl, isn't she?"

Clarke can't help the smile she makes at hearing Costia call her _'Lexa's_ _girl'_ and she looks over at Costia, who smiles back at her and then looks to Justin, who looks as though he was just told Freddy Kruger is real and he was the next target.

"Lexa Woods?" He repeats, his eyes moving from Lexa on the field to Clarke right beside him. Clarke nods.

"Just the one," Costia says, slapping her hand onto Justin's shoulder. "So what are we talking about that's so enjoyable, Booberry?"

The muscle in Justin's jaw twitches as he grinds his teeth down, visibly annoyed and nervous. "If you'll excuse me, I have a friend waiting for me." He said, standing from his spot. He turns back to Clarke and nods his head before turning away and leaving.

Clarke is laughing as Costia steps down the row to sit beside Clarke. "Thank you for that." Clarke says while Costia pulls her in for a quick hug. "I didn't know how to get rid of him."

Costia grins. "Well it was distracting the only way we're going to beat Azgeda." She nods her head back at the field to where Lexa looks much happier and on her game again.

In the second half of the game, no one has scored yet and Azgeda starts playing aggressive. First, it was just a couple of small fouls here and there, but when Trikru makes the first goal of the game by number seven, they start pushing harder and tripping more. Clarke feels her blood boil when number thirty-three pushes Lexa while she's in mid jump for the ball and she lands roughly on her arm. She lets out a relieved sigh when Miller pulls her up onto her feet and she stretches her arm a bit before getting back in the game.

When it ends, it's 1-0 and Trikru are huddled up together cheering, quite a few of their comrades on the bleachers join them. Clarke meets Lexa at the bottom of the bleachers, and this time Lexa doesn't let her hug her.

"You're too beautifully dressed to rub my sweat all over." Lexa says.

Clarke smirks, holding back her inappropriate comment. Lexa catches on quickly and Clarke watches as her ears and cheeks turn red and she looks away.

"I'm sure Clarke here wouldn't mind you rubbing _anything_ all over her." Anya says, wrapping an arm around the brunette and grinning between the two.

"And by _'anything'_ she means your body." Raven says. "Isn't that right, princess?"

"I need to shower and change before I go to the fair." Lexa says loudly, her blush growing to her neck now. "And so does Anya. If you three want to join you can, or we can meet back up with you in the fair?"

Costia grabs gold of Clarke's and Raven's arms and smiles widely. "Text us when you're done and we'll find you!" She says before spinning them around and heading toward the fair with Octavia at Raven's side. Clarke turns her head for a last look at Lexa and sends her a meager wave before turning back and leaving Anya and Lexa to go to their barracks.

"Costia is going to be the death of me, I swear." Lexa chuckles with the shake of her head and a pat on Anya's back as they start their walk.

***

When Lexa and Anya come back, Lincoln is tagging along and Clarke laughs at the way Octavia's demeanor shifts. Raven also catches it and nudges Octavia in the ribs.

"See something you like?" Clarke teases the younger girl.

"Shut up." Octavia shoots a glare at Clarke and Raven laughs. She looks to Costia and nods her head to the three soldiers making their way to them. "Who is that?"

Costia smirks, catching on pretty quickly as well. "That's Lincoln." She says, wriggling her eyebrows. "And yes, in case you're wondering, he _is_ single."

Octavia opens and closes her mouth a few times as though wanting to deny she was wondering that, but in the end she closes her mouth and turns to the ring toss stand they were just playing at before Raven pointed the others out.

When they reach them, Clarke smiles playfully up at Lexa. "Are you going to let me hug you now?"

Lexa pulls her brows together in mock consideration. "I don't know if I'm clean enough."

"Oh please, your dirty mind isn't going to taint her. Hers is probably worse." Raven says and the smile on Lexa's face falls as her ears go pink.

"Dammit, Rae, stop embarrassing her." Clarke scolds as she steps forward and pulls Lexa into a hug. She tucks her face into Lexa's shoulder and the scent of mint and something specifically Lexa engulfs her and her head spins. "You smell clean enough to me." She says into her shoulder before bringing her head up and her lips onto Lexa's for a quick greeting kiss.

Costia scoffs behind them. "This is sickeningly sweet. Look, they're matching."

Clarke looks down to find that they are in deed matching; Lexa is wearing dark blue jeans and a white button-up shirt under her black leather jacket. She breathes out a laugh at the comparative outfits.

"Dammit." Lexa says nervously, looking down at their clothes as well. "I forgot you were wearing white, I'll go back and change..."

"Lexa," Clarke said, grabbing the girl's hand and looking into those deep green eyes surrounded in her usual thick black eyeliner. "It's fine. It's cute, actually. I like it."

"You don't think it's weird?" Lexa asks, making sure.

"Do you think it's weird?" Lexa shakes her head. "Good, because I don't." Lexa smiles finally and nods her head.

"Are we done?" Anya asks, breaking their exchange. "Can we go do something fun now?"

Clarke moves to stand beside Lexa and smiles up at Lincoln. "Hey, Lincoln. That was a good game you guys played."

"It's nice seeing you again, Clarke." Lincoln says with a sweet smile.

"Oh yeah," Lexa says, looking from Lincoln to Raven and then Octavia. "Lincoln, this is Raven." She says first and waits for them to greet each other properly. "And this is Octavia."

Octavia smiles up at Lincoln and takes his hand. "Nice to meet you, Octavia." Lincoln says with a captivating smile. Before they can pull away, Anya steps behind Octavia and bumps her. The shorter girl stumbles into Lincoln, who steadies her with his muscular arms on her shoulders. Clarke catches the semi-hidden high-five exchanged between Anya and Lexa and finds herself staring up at Lexa with a very impressed smile.

"Did you and Anya..." Clarke says quietly enough so Octavia and Lincoln, who are still practically gawking at each other and apologizing, don't hear.

"Well Octavia _did_ ask me if I had any hot single Army friends." Lexa says with a sly smirk.

Clarke looks around them to see Raven pushing Anya away with Costia tiptoeing along with them. Clarke takes Lexa's hand and pulls her along to follow them, and when the five of them are far enough away, they dart left and run. They're almost on the complete opposite side of the fair from where they left the other two when they finally stop in a hysteria of laughter.

"Oh my god, that was just perfect!" Costia exclaims, clutching her ribs. "I wish I could see their faces when they realized we weren't there!"

"Octavia is gonna be pissed." Raven says with a grin that showed how much she wasn't guilty.

"You can think Lexa for the genius plan." Anya says, face red from laughing so hard. Lexa grins proudly at the group before bowing like she'd just performed some awesome magic trick in an auditorium full of people.

"Okay, but what happens if they don't like each other?" Costia pauses, suddenly looking a fraction more guilty than everyone else.

"Impossible." Lexa says with the shake of her head. "Lincoln is too great to not like. Honestly, I don't think anyone dislikes him."

"And Octavia was practically _drooling_ when she saw him with you two." Clarke says.

"Operation Avoid Octavia and Lincoln At All Costs commences!" Raven exclaims happily.

"Shall we get the drinking and donating on?" Anya says, smiling down at Raven and poking her elbow out toward her. Raven offers a flirtatious smile to the tall girl and linked their arms together.

Lexa and Costia share an eye roll and the remaining three follow behind.

***

When the sun is replaced by the moon, Monroe, Echo, and Luna turn the five person group into an eight person group and surprisingly, no one had yet to see Lincoln and Octavia. They had been on every ride and played most of the game stands already and half of the group had their fair share of beer by now. Costia had won herself a small pink stuffed dolphin at the ring throwing stand and Monroe gave her large plush smiley face doughnut to Luna after winning it at the basketball stand.

Now, the eight of them are standing in front of a stand involving a water guns and deflated balloons atop six clown heads. Lexa, Anya, Monroe, and Luna all sit on a stool each in front of one of the guns.

"Lexa, if you don't win your girl something this time, I might just win her one myself." Echo says with a crooked smile, knowing just how much fuel that would be for her the brunette's competitive fire. And damn is she right, Clarke notices. When the four of them start, Lexa barely misses her target, though Luna is right behind her. Lexa does win, however, and proudly lets Clarke pick out a small blue raccoon.

After a few more minutes with the group, Clarke notices just how bad Raven's limp is starting to get while she and Anya and Monroe walk in front of them. It seems as though Lexa notices at the same time, however, and the brunette mentions it first.

"Would you like to take a break, Raven?" She asks. Raven turns around and smiles sincerely at her.

"It's all good, Lex. I can handle it." She lifts her plastic cup. "Alcohol is numbing it for me. Barely feel it!" She turns back around and links her arm with Anya's again.

"She's fine." Clarke assures when she sees the still worried look on Lexa's face.

"Do you want to ditch them?" Lexa suddenly asks, looking down at Clarke. Clarke cocks her head to the side before smiling at the green eyed girl and nodding.

"I thought you'd never ask."

They find themselves in a short line for a funnel cake that Lexa pays for. They walk around the lit fair under the night sky, watching all the drunk people and families with children and teenagers with friends at all these different game and food stands and lines for carnival rides while they share the funnel cake and chat. Clarke can't think of a better way to be spending her night; honestly, this is probably one of the best times she's had in a long time. She's about to tell Lexa that when she speaks first.

"I want to take you out on a real date some time." She says while she pulls off another piece of powdered sugar coated fried bread and tosses it into her mouth.

Clarke looks at her, bemused. "Is this not a real date?"

Lexa stops in her tracks and turns to Clarke who stops a step in front of her. Her face is scrunched up in confusion and Clarke just wants to kiss those cute creases between her eyebrows. "Is it? We just spent this whole time with everybody else."

Clarke stands in front of her now, her hands gripping at Lexa's open leather jacket. She looks up at Lexa, just inches away from her face, and smiles when she sees Lexa duck her head just a little and green eyes fall to her lips.

"The night is still young." Clarke says. She feels more than sees Lexa lean forward to capture her lips, but Clarke pulls back right before the impact and turns around, making sure to sway her hips more than usual as she walks ahead.

Lexa catches up with her and offers more of the funnel cake with a smile she doesn't seem to bother hiding. When Clarke looks back up from the plate she stops in her tracks at what's not too far away from them.

"Oh my god." She says with a big smile.

In front of them is Lincoln and Octavia each holding a large hotdog while they're in line for the Ferris wheel. Octavia is holding a giant stuffed panda bear with the happiest of smiles on her face.

"Wow." Lexa breathes in surprise.

At that moment, Octavia turns her head and she spots the two of them. Her smile doesn't fade or stutter and she waves them toward her instead. Clarke and Lexa go over to them quietly.

"Guys, where have you been?" Octavia asks, hugging Clarke happily.

"Uh, well..." Clarke starts.

"Where's stupid Raven?" Octavia asks. Lexa snorts back a laugh.

"I don't know, we left them." Clarke explains. "Nice panda."

Octavia smiles back and nods to the animal in her own hand. "Nice raccoon. Are you getting on?"

Clarke looks up at the Ferris wheel and then over to Lexa, who just shrugs and smiles warmly back.

"Sure." Clarke says.

The four of them stand in line chatting happily about the night until they reach the end and hop into their own carts.

"I've never been on a Ferris wheel before." Lexa says before their cart moves to let the next pair on.

Clarke looks at Lexa in surprise. "Never?"

Lexa shakes her head. "I'm not a fan of heights."

Clarke takes Lexa's hand in her own and squeezes. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall."

They sit in silence as the Ferris wheel ascends to let everyone else on and starts to slowly circulate. When the sky comes into view, Clarke is looking up at the beautiful curtain of stars.

"What are you thinking about, Clarke?" Lexa asks softly and Clarke looks over to see Lexa staring at her. She smiles and turns back to the sky.

"School has me working so much lately. If anyone ever tells you that art school is easy, kick them in the shins for me."

Lexa chuckles. "Will do."

"But I'm so busy lately, I don't have time to just relax for longer than thirty minutes or I'll get behind on my projects. So _this_ is nice." She waves her hand up at the sky. "Looking up at the stars is nice. I forgot how beautiful the night sky is." She stares up at all the twinkling lights for a moment in silence before speaking again. "Space is so beautiful from down here. I mean, we can only see _this_ , but there's so much more out there that we can't see. It's just so beautiful."

"You are so beautiful." Lexa says.

Clarke looks over again and sees green eyes staring at her with admiration. She can feel the blush on her cheeks and knows the little lights covering the Ferris wheel probably don't do anything to hide it from her. When a light wind blows into them, Clarke shivers just a little, but it's enough for Lexa to break their eye contact and shrug out of her leather jacket to pull around Clarke. It's so warm from Lexa wearing it all night and it smells just like her that Clarke could hide her face in it and sleep peacefully in the cart high above the ground. Instead, she scoots closer to the main source of the scent and Lexa wraps her arm around Clarke's shoulders.

"Do you see that star?" Lexa asks, pointing up at the sky. Clarke follows her finger in search for the one she's talking about. "That really bright star over there. Up and the right of Orion's Belt."

"Where's Orion's Belt at?" Clarke is completely lost. Lexa chuckles and takes her hand, closing it into a fist except for her index finger and stretching it out to the sky to point.

"Those three stars right there are Orion's Belt. Do you see them?" Clarke find's the stars easily with the help of Lexa.

"Okay." She nods.

Lexa follows Orion's Belt with Clarke's finger and makes a straight line to another cluster of stars. "There. That bright star, do you see it?"

Clarke sees a bright orange tinted star, brighter than the ones around it. "Oh, I see it!"

Clarke doesn't look away in case see she loses it, but she can hear Lexa's smile when she speaks again. "That is Aldebaran, or the Eye of the Bull." She leads Clarke's pointed finger up and Clarke follows intently. "There are the horns," She goes back down, past the bright star to make a circle a little past it. "His shoulders," She moves her hand around again. "And there are his front legs." Clarke is disappointed when Lexa lets go of her hand and grips the railing instead, but she doesn't drop her own hand, still trying see it.

"I guess I can see the horns, but you lost me at the rest." She laughs heartily.

Lexa scoots closer to her and leans her head in to Clarkes to get a better look from her view point. Clarke is very aware of just how close Lexa's lips are to her ear now, and when she speaks, the hot air hits her ears and she shudders.

"Yeah, it is a little difficult to get an image of." She chuckles lightly and Clarke feels much warmer than the now chilly breeze would call for -- specially further down her body. Lexa's voice is low and gentle and Clarke is starting to go lightheaded from what it does to her.

"In Greek mythology it's said that Zeus turned himself into a beautiful white bull to woo Europa, the princess of Phoenician. She jumped onto his back and he carried her across the ocean to the Island of Crete where they had their son Minos."

Clarke drops her hand and turns her head to look at Lexa, who is surprised when their faces are just inches away from each other. Clarke sees the bob of Lexa's throat when she swallows and the way her tongue darts out to lick her lips and the intensity of those wood green eyes on her. Clarke wants to close those inches of space between them, but she also wants to keep hearing Lexa's voice. So she pulls away a little more and lifts an eyebrow playfully.

"So you know your constellations? Is there _anything_ you're not good at?" Clarke teases. Lexa laughs lightly along.

"Art." She says, squeezing Clarke's shoulder. "And my constellations."

Clarke looks at her in disbelief.

"What?" Lexa laughs and shrugs. "I know the usual, like Orion's Belt and the Big Dipper. I know Taurus because I am a Taurus and I thought that would the coolest thing in the world to know when I was kid. I tried to learn the other zodiacs too, but I got bored when I couldn't find Leo."

"Damn, that's too bad." Clarke razzes, resting her head on Lexa's shoulder. "I would have been very impressed if you knew Aquarius."

"Hmm, I'll have to look it up." Lexa says impishly.

"Do you know any other ones?" Clarke asks warmly.

"I know the Lazy W."

Clarke snorts and sits up again to look at Lexa. "The Lazy W?"

Lexa nods. "I learned it one day in elementary school when my class got to spend the day in this giant black dome thing that showed the constellations. It's the only one I remember them talking about." With Clarke still very amused and curiously waiting for her to explain, Lexa searches the sky. "It's actual name is Cassiopeia. Are you aware of it now?"

"Oh!" Clarke drags in understanding. "I've heard of that one before. You should have just said that to begin with!"

"Where is the fun in that?" Lexa scans the sky a little longer until she finally points up. "There it is. It looks like a lazy w, does it not?"

Clarke follows her finger and laughs when she finds it. "Okay, so what's the story behind this one?"

Lexa's face drops into a cute pout. "I don't remember that much. It was something about Cassiopeia getting in trouble about something, and when she's put in heaven, Neptune puts her in her throne with her head facing the Northern Star. She spends half of every night upside-down as punishment for whatever she did. It has been a very long time since I heard the story though so I can't be more detailed this time."

Clarke leans her head on Lexa's shoulder again and looks up at her from that position. "I'm still very impressed, Lexa."

Lexa looks down at her and Clarke shifts her head in its place to bring her lips to Lexa's neck, leaving kisses all over her skin. She feels Lexa's heartbeat against her lips as it speeds up a fraction and she tucks her nose into the nook of her neck.

"Your nose is cold, Clarke." Lexa says with the usual accentuated click of the 'k' she makes at the end. Clarke smiles into her neck now and slides her right hand across Lexa's stomach to wrap around her. "I can feel you smiling. What are you smiling at?" Lexa asks, leaning her cheek on Clarke's head.

"The way you say my name." Clarke says simply.

"Is it wrong?" Lexa shifts away and Clarke pouts up at her to find the girl nervously looking at her.

Clarke shakes her head. "It's correct. I just love the way you say it."

She leans forward slowly and Lexa catches on instantly and follows suit. The kiss is so soft and delicate and sweet and Clarke feels the butterflies in her stomach multiplying as she tilts her head to the other side and Lexa's nose bumps hers before she takes her lips once again. Lexa pulls away too soon for Clarke's liking, but she doesn't make any moves to bring her back in. Lexa's face in that very moment as she's looking at her, looks so pure and free, and Clarke thinks of the picture in Lexa's room. She's not smiling brightly like she was in the photo, but her eyes are just as bright as her father's were.

 _'You look so much like your dad'_ , she wants to say. "When was the last time you went to a fair?"

She regrets the question immediately when the brightness in Lexa's eyes vanishes and is replaced with something far darker.

"We have a fair at least once a year here, which is why I'm asking." She tries to shift the conversation to herself instead. "I go almost every year with Raven and Octavia and the other kiddos. Maybe you'd like to join us this year?"

Lexa nods slowly. "If you'd like."

The conversation drifts off just like that and Clarke feels horrible for asking the question; she didn't mean to make Lexa uncomfortable or sad. Clarke has no idea what Lexa's thinking and it starts to eat her up after a while. When Lexa told her her family was _'gone'_ , she didn't know what it meant. Did they disown her after she came out to them? Where they just not around because she moved away and she just missed them? Were they dead?

She's about to apologize for asking the question when Lexa's voice comes out steady and quiet. "The picture you saw in my room was the last fair I had been to until now." Clarke turns and watches Lexa's profile. Her features are soft and there's a twinkle in her eye as she looks up in the sky at Taurus. "I was nine years old. I had won a gold fish from one of the game stands. I picked out the smallest one of the bunch because I was one of the smallest kids in my grade and I wanted the fish to know it was just as special as my parents would tell me I was when I was picked last in PE."

"You were one of the smallest kids?" Clarke repeats in disbelief. "That's adorable."

Lexa chuckles. "Yeah, I was tiny. I was in tenth grade when I finally shot up."

"I was a very late bloomer myself." Clarke recalls. "I had my first period when I was _thirteen_." Lexa's eyebrows shoot up to her hair line and she bellows out a laugh. "Not funny!" Clarke slaps her leg halfheartedly. "It was horrible! I had the flattest chest in my entire grade _and_ grades below me. I was flatter than some of the boys! But when I finally did get my period, _these_ puppies outdid themselves." She pats her breasts lightly with her hand, an proud smile playing on her lips as she looks over at Lexa, who is still laughing and shaking her head.

"I bet you didn't feel so bad for blooming late after that."

Clarke shakes her head smugly. "Nope. But don't be fooled. A pair like this is _not_ all they're cracked up to be. I get back aches all the time, my food falls between them, they get in the way, it's uncomfortable sleeping on my stomach."

"You didn't seem uncomfortable like that the morning after your birthday celebration." Lexa smirks playfully.

Clarke feels herself blushing and rolls her eyes at Lexa. "I was drunk, shut up." She nudges Lexa with her shoulder.

They grow comfortably silent after that. Clarke is nestled warmly against Lexa with the raccoon clutched in her hands. She can feel Lexa's fingers rubbing circles on her arm over the leather jacket and can faintly hear the steady beating of her heart.

"They're gone." Lexa says so quietly, Clarke isn't sure she heard right. She looks up at the girl once again looking at the stars and waits for her to speak again. "They're gone; my family is. They died when I was younger. That's what I meant by gone the other day when you asked."

Clarke waits for her to continue, but she shows no signs of planning to do so and she doesn't want to probe. Her whole family? All four of them? Her brothers too? Clarke laces her fingers into Lexa's and squeezes gently.

"My dad died." Clarke says after a while, resting her head once again on Lexa's shoulder. "When I was sixteen years old. Pancreatic cancer. They found it in the late stages and it was too late to do anything about it."

Lexa is watching her now, hanging on to every word she says.

"It felt like my whole heart died with him that day. I didn't think I could survive long with him gone. He was always there for me, through everything, just supporting me in whatever I wanted to do. He bought me a coming out cake and threw a little party with my friends and family when I told him I was bisexual." Clarke starts laughing at the memory. "He was a fantastic man..."

Clarke isn't looking up at her to see Lexa fighting back the salty water in her eyes. "Death comes for even the purest of hearts far too soon." Lexa says quietly.

Clarke presses Lexa's hand to her lips in a kiss before leaning up to kiss her lips. This time, Lexa does not pull away and neither does Clarke. The kiss starts to get heavier and heated when Clarke grasps at Lexa's thigh and starts running her hand along the rough fabric of her jeans. Lexa runs her tongue along Clarke's bottom lip and when Clarke parts her lips, it slides in and Clarke's breathing stutters. She finds her hand in Lexa's hair and deepens the kiss, but they pull away when the cart jolts and Lexa looks panicked.

"Relax," Clarke says with a small laugh as she tries catching her breath. "We're just moving."

When they get off they head to Lexa's car, which Clarke is pleasantly surprised to find is a red 2016 Mustang GT, and drive to Clarke's place. Clarke sends Raven a text on the way.

 **To Rae:** My car key is on top of the front left tire. Don't forget about O. Be safe

When they make it to Clarke's apartment, she takes Lexa's hand and leads her to her room and closes the door behind the. Without a word, she puts her hands on Lexa's chest and kisses her. Lexa responds with her hands on Clarke's waist and leads her to the bed. The kiss is slow and fervent and Clarke feels her stomach doing cartwheels by just how perfect Lexa is. Everything she's doing now is careful and considerate and it gives Clarke enough time to stop them if she wanted to. But she doesn't want to.

It's Clarke who seeks entrance into Lexa's mouth this time, and Lexa's tongue greets her once she opens it. Lexa takes Clarke's bottom lip in between her own lips not long later and sucks lightly, pulling Clarke closer to her. It's when Clarke lets out the first moan of the night that their touches become more daring and their kissing intensifies with want and desire. Lexa's hands grip around Clarke's ass and Clarke steps closer so their bodies press completely together.

Lexa pulls away panting. "These jeans look so sexy on you."

Clarke reminds herself to thank Octavia tomorrow as she grabs Lexa by the back of the neck and pulls her back into a heated kiss. Lexa gives Clarke's butt a final squeeze before Clarke shrugs out of the leather jacket and then goes to unbutton Lexa's shirt. When it's off, Lexa's grabbing at the bottom of Clarke's top, urging it off with no complaint from the blonde. She lifts her arms up to allow Lexa to pull it over her head and drop it down beside their feet.

Lexa nudges Clarke onto the bed and Clarke drags herself to the middle of it. Lexa climbs over her body, pressing her own against Clarke's in ways that Clarke knows would feel so much better with less clothes on. Lexa seems to think the same thing as she lifts her body up to straddle Clarke and starts undoing the blonde's jeans button. She pauses for a moment to look at Clarke's stomach. "You have your bellybutton pierced?" She observes the small metal jewelry with the diamond in it. "That's so hot." Her focus goes back to the jeans and Clarke lifts her hips up to allow Lexa to slide them off. They get caught at her feet and that's when Clarke remembers her shoes are still on. She lets out a comical laugh and covers her face as Lexa struggles to take them off for her.

"Oh my god, how did we forget?" Clarke giggles, looking down when Lexa pulls her left shoe off and starts pulling at the strings on her right shoe.

"If you didn't double knot your shoes so damn tight, I would have had them both off already." Lexa grumbles, though there is a hint of a smile on her lips.

Clarke giggles hard and uses her bare foot to help take the shoe off. Lexa quickly kicks her own shoes off of the edge of the bed and finishes pulling Clarke's jeans off. Clarke pulls the girl back up her body until their lips are once again pressed against each other. Lexa's left hand presses onto the bed beside Clarke's head while her right hand slides over her shoulder, down the side of her covered breasts and along her ribs very softly and the tingling feeling pulls a sigh out of her mouth and into Lexa's. Lexa drags her hand back up just as slowly and when she reaches her breasts this time, Clarke slaps her hand over Lexa's and controls her movements on it, kneading and rubbing. When she pulls her hand away, Lexa continues working her.

Lexa slides her skin toned bra down to release her boob from its confines and runs her thumb over her nub. Clarke presses her head into the pillow and moans freely. Her own fingers curl into Lexa's white undershirt, frustrated that she doesn't get the same satisfaction of touching her new lover the same way Lexa gets to. She tugs the shirt up until Lexa sits up on top of her and helps to remove the garment.

She's about to drop back down onto Clarke, but Clarke stops her with her hands flat on her shoulders. Clarke surveys her body with her eyes and her hands, taking in her tanned skin and the way her toned muscles twitch when her fingers touch them. She lightly runs her nails down Lexa's washboard abs, heat pooling at her center at the sight before her. Lexa's dark eyes are watching her and Clarke catches a hint of nervousness in them. She runs her hands up her body again and her attention snaps to a decent sized scar just below her bra along her ribs. She rubs her fingers over it curiously, feeling the difference in texture from her smooth skin to the faintly rougher line. It's then that she notices the other scars; much smaller and less visible ones.

She looks up to Lexa to ask her about them, but stops herself when she sees how anxious she is, as though she was expecting Clarke to make some comment about them. So Clarke doesn't ask, and for the moment she doesn't care. She looks back down to the trail her fingers make as they climb past her abs, over her bra, and around her neck until she rests her eyes on those expanded pupils surrounded by that mesmerizing green that was now her favorite color in the world. She pulls her down now and Lexa keeps them from head butting each other with her own hands on either side of Clarke's head. Clarke keeps her eyes steady on Lexa's.

"You're so..." _Sexy, hot, perfect?_ She doesn't know what word would best describe this girl that's quickly stealing her heart; they all fit her perfectly. "Beautiful." She chooses.

Lexa's eyes soften and Clarke's heart flutters at the way she lets out a relieved sigh before she pulls her back in for a much necessary kiss. Clarke dips her tongue into Lexa's mouth once again and it's Lexa who lets out a guttural moan this time. Lexa pushes Clarke's legs apart with her hips and positions herself between them and Clarke's center is _pounding_ with anticipation. When she grinds her covered mound against Clarke's, Clarke cries out her knees press into Lexa's hips on either side.

"Lexa," Clarke groans on Lexa's seconds time rolling up. Clarke's hands are impatiently reaching for her jeans to rip them off, but she's too far down to grab them. "You're wearing too much. Take your pants off."

Lexa peppers kisses down Clarke's neck and to her clavicle, completely ignoring Clarke's plea.

"Lexa." Clarke repeats after another roll from the girl on top. She's aching for more skin to skin contact now and Lexa isn't giving it to her.

She shifts a little underneath Lexa and pushes Lexa off of her and onto her back and Clarke is straddling the brunette in the blink of an eye. Judging by Lexa's shocked look, she wasn't expecting the roles to be switched so early on in the night. Clarke smirks down at her, pinning her to the bed with her hands on her shoulders.

"I told you you were wearing too much." Clarke husks, bringing her lips to lightly brush against Lexa's as she spoke. "Maybe you should have listened."

She scoots down until she's met with the metal button of Lexa's jeans and slowly pulls it undone and zips it down. She slides up enough to bring her lips down to the start of Lexa's hard stomach and slowly, torturously, she kisses her way back down until she's met with the fabric of the now undone pants. She tugs at them, dragging them down and past Lexa's hips, following along with kisses. She nips at Lexa's hips and the girl below her gasps. Clarke looks up through her eyelashes at Lexa, who is propped up on her elbows and watching Clarke intently. Clarke grabs the elastic of Lexa's grey boy shorts and slides them down along with the jeans, kissing as she went.

She knows she's freed Lexa's mound before she sees it; the heat intensifies when it happens and Clarke speeds up her movements until the jeans and underwear falls in a heap at the end of the bed, her lips stilling at Lexa's stubbly pubic bone. When she's free from the waist down, Clarke sits up to look at her prize and if she wasn't still her lacey panties, she'd probably be dripping onto her sheets because, _holy fuck_ , she was turned on. Lexa lay there in full view for Clarke, glistening and ready for anything Clarke might have in mind.

"I shaved when you came to visit me the other day." Lexa explains shyly. "It was still too short to shave today unless I wanted razor burn."

"I don't care." Clarke says, looking back at Lexa. She straddles Lexa's waist again and kisses her desperately. Lexa wastes no time is removing Clarke's bra and her hands are immediately pressing into her breasts, her fingers rolling and pinching and rubbing over her now hard nipples. Clarke pulls away from the kiss to moan and grinds her damp panties down Lexa's waist until she meets Lexa's uncovered sex.

Lexa sits up and takes a pink nipple into her mouth and Clarke throws her head back in a cry. "Take it off." Lexa growls with her nipple still in her mouth and her hands at the waistband of Clarke's panties.

Honestly, Lexa didn't even have to say it, but Clarke nods her head frantically and leans to one side as she works her panties down. Lexa seizes the opportunity to flip them over again and she tugs the last of Clarke's garment off and onto the floor somewhere. She kisses Clarke once before trailing kisses down her jaw and on her neck, staying there long enough to drive Clarke _insane_ (and probably to leave a mark of two).

"Fuck..." Clarke sighs, following the fabric of Lexa's bra until she finds the clasp and pulls it off of the brunette.

Lexa has her mouth on Clarke's nipple again while her hand toys with the other one and Clarke sure she's soaked the sheets below her when Lexa quits. She comes back up to kiss Clarke heatedly and her hand runs down Clarke's stomach until it hits the start of her slit, where she pauses.

"Fuck, Lexa, just touch me already." Clarke growls.

Lexa dips her fingers between Clarke's lips and Clarke can feel just how soaked she is now. She groans at the contact and when Lexa starts making circles around her clit, she already feels like she's at her peak.

"You're so wet, Clarke." Lexa says against her lips. Clarke moans hoarsely at the sound of her name in Lexa's voice and wraps her arms around her back.

"God, I don't think I can take anymore teasing. Please just do it."

"Do what?" Lexa asks huskily, a smile in her voice. Clarke knows the words Lexa wants to hear, but she can't remember them when Lexa's fingers are rubbing and circling her so expertly like she's done it enough times before to remember just how she likes it. "Hmmm?" She brings her finger to circle Clarke's entrance and she finally remembers the words she needs.

Kind of.

"Fuck... Fingers, Lexa. Me -- in me." Her sentence is just as scattered as her composure. "Finger me!" She manages to groan finally.

She's looking up into Lexa's eyes when she feels a long and slender finger dip inside of her. She shuts her eyes tightly as her back arches and a loud moan escapes her throat. Lexa starts thrusting in and out of her slowly and Clarke realizes just how long it's been since she's had a regularly satisfied sex life. She is tight around Lexa's single finger, but it doesn't take too long for her to get used to the feeling.

"Do you want another finger now?" Lexa asks when Clarke's loosened up enough.

"God yes." Clarke sighs.

Lexa adds her second finger and Clarke whines from how much it feels so amazing. After a bit, Lexa speeds up her thrusts and Clarke is rolling her hips along with her. When she adds a third finger, Clarke's nails are scratching down her back roughly and her gasps and moans are the only thing that fill the room.

Lexa's mouth meets one of Clarke's nipples and her tongue swipes over and around the stiff nub, one of Clarke's hands gripped into her messy braided hair now.

"Fuck, Lexa, I'm so close." Clarke pants.

Lexa curls her fingers inward then and Clarke cries out. Every pump in of Lexa's fingers are met with a thrust up of Clarke's hips and the angle is sending Clarke to the cliff's edge at a rapid pace. With a final deep push and curl from Lexa, Clarke falls over. Her moan actually gets stuck in her throat when she comes and her body shudders hard. Lexa keeps her hand going in and out of Clarke slowly and she rides out her orgasm for what feels like a blissful forever. When she stills, aside from her shaking legs, Lexa pulls out and looks down at her glistening fingers.

Clarke watches her smirk and put her fingers close to her lips before she stops and looks down at her. Instead of sucking her come off of her fingers, Lexa brings the three digits to Clarke's mouth and Clarke parts her lips to allow her to put her middle finger in. She looks up at Lexa questioningly while she sucks her tangy arousal from the finger before she opens her mouth for the next one.

"I plan on getting a taste from the source tonight, and I want it to be my first taste." Lexa's voice is dripping with sensuality and Clarke feels her body react intensely; she's ready for a second round already. She can't recall a time when someone had made her come that quickly or that hard and she wants another experience now.

"Well I'm going to kiss you if you don't do it now." Clarke husks when she pops the last digit from her mouth.

She comes quicker and harder than the first time. Lexa's tongue is definitely the best thing Clarke has ever had on her and _in_ her and Lexa makes her come _twice_ with it, back to back.

"God..." Clarke pants, staring up at the ceiling when Lexa cleans her dry.

"It's Lexa." Lexa says playfully beside her, running a finger lightly on Clarke's chest in a circle with a smug smile tugging on her lips.

"Shut up." Clarke tries to laugh but she's too worn out and it just comes out like a heavy breath. "Just wait until I can move my body again. Then it's your turn."

Lexa kisses Clarke's cheek sweetly before lying flat on her back. "I'll wait." She laughs.

The laugh chokes into a groan when Clarke rolls on top of her a few breaths later and has her warm mouth wrapped around her nipple. She teases the brunette just as much as she had been teased and has Lexa writhing underneath her by the time her hot breath ghosts across Lexa's dripping sex. The smell of her musky arousal has Clarke's mind spinning and she hums her pleasure along with Lexa when she first dips her tongue between her folds and gets her first taste of the tangy fluid.

She flattens her tongue out fully on Lexa's center and then licks up her slit pointedly until she reaches her engorged clit the way Lexa had done to her and it gets the reaction she's looking for. Lexa's hands have a death grip on her sheets and her legs spread open more to give Clarke more access and her hips starts to softly move up and down.

"You taste amazing, Lexa." Clarke says and the vibrations of her words send a raspy moan out of her. "I could stay down here all night, it's so good."

"Do it." Lexa breathes.

Clarke hums into her again and her tongue follows the trail of discharge to Lexa's entrance. She sticks the muscle inside and Lexa clenches around her tongue and gasps. Clarke stays there for a bit before she moves back up to suck Lexa into her mouth. At the same time, she pushes a finger into her and earns a high pitched squeal.

"Fuck, you could have warned a gir--shit..." She moans when Clarke speeds up her ministrations.

Lexa is a lot quieter than she is, Clarke notices, but she knows she's doing everything right with the way Lexa is squirming and breathing.

"Shit, Clarke." She groans, and Clarke feels heat pool in her core again with the way Lexa never fails to make her name sound so sexy. "I'm almost there, don't stop."

Clarke adds a second finger and curls them inside of Lexa and her breathing hitches. It's when Clarke takes her clit into her mouth and grazes it with her teeth that the girl manages to pull the fitted sheet out from its tucked corners in a harsh gasp as she comes completely undone.

When she finishes, Clarke gets as much of her come cleaned out of her before she starts squirming uncomfortably and Clarke flops down beside her. She throws her arm across Lexa and her leg wraps around one of Lexa's legs as she snuggles up to her.

"God..." Lexa mimics the same thing Clarke had said not too long ago.

"It's Clarke." Clarke nuzzles her face into Lexa's neck and feels the vibrations of her laugh.

"Clarke..." She says in the same manner she had said God.

"You have to fix my bed." Clarke says already drifting to sleep.

"Me?"

"Mhmm. You're the one that fucked it up." Clarke mumbles.

"Good point." Lexa chuckles. She makes to sit up and fix them, but Clarke's arm around her isn't budging.

Clarke's eyes are closed but she knows she's being stared at now. "Leave it. Stay right here."

Lexa lies back down and places a kiss to Clarke's forehead. "Goodnight, Clarke."

Clarke is too tired to form words so she just weakly squeezes Lexa closer and grumbles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ask me any questions on my Tumblr: gayassheda


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You hooked up with your best friend's boyfriend?"  
> "We weren't best friends at the time." Clarke defends.
> 
> ~or~
> 
> The morning after. Fluffy and cute, with a little awkwardness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long. I was in Cancun for a few days!  
> I used the back tattoo version that doesn't have all those dumb circles at the bottom of it because I don't like them.

Clarke is the first of the two wake up to the warm sunlight the next morning. She's laying on her side and her arm is wrapped lazily over Lexa's bare waits. She smiles into the brunette, soaking in the wonderful minty scent that envelopes her sense of smell. _I could wake up to this smell every day_ , she thinks. Her smile wavers at her own thoughts. _You spend one night with her and you're already thinking about more, Clarke? No, stop that._

Clarke pushes her thoughts away and snuggles her head back into the back of Lexa's neck, but she stops when she catches black ink there. She pulls away to take a better look at it. It's an infinity sign with a broken loop. It's the first time she's seen Lexa's back and when she looks down at it, she's surprised to find that, that too, is covered in black ink. The outlined circle just above her shoulder blades has two lines slicing through it. A series of lines and designs run down her spine until they meet with a solid black circle on her lower back. Just like the outlined circle, the solid one also has a set of lines of its own interfering with its perfection.

What catches her attention next almost pulls a gasp from Clarke's mouth. Lexa's back is covered in the aftermath of their night together, red nail marks decorating much of the skin there; but Clarke finds other marks she definitely didn't do last night. Scattered around Lexa's back are four welted scars varying in size but all relatively straight lines: one across her lower back, two on her shoulder blade, and the last one is against the back of her ribs. Clarke traces one of the ones on her shoulder blade. She wonders how she didn't feel them last night when her hands caressed every inch of her soft body.

Lexa stirs under her touch and Clarke moves her hand up to stroke Lexa's tribal tattoo on her arm. Lexa hums, letting Clarke know she's awake now.

"You didn't sneak out like last time." Clarke husks through her morning voice.

Lexa chuckles lightly, her back still to Clarke. "I didn't have a mandatory meeting this time. No last minute PT today."

"Well," Clarke leans forward until her lips are at Lexa's ear. "You had enough PT last night anyway, don't you think?"

Lexa giggles and takes Clarke's hand on her arm to her lips for a kiss. "Good morning, Clarke."

"It is a very good morning." Clarke says, sliding her hand back to her arm. "What is this tattoo about?"

"My father had it tattooed on him, and his father had it tattooed, and his mother had it on her, and so on. My dad told me it is a Wood's family symbol. It symbolizes the spirit and nature."

Clarke runs her fingers up Lexa's shoulder and down her spine until she hits the outlined circle. "This is beautiful." She says, tracing the tattoo delicately, taking the design in more than before.

"I got it the day I graduated from AIT." Lexa says in a very relaxed voice, almost sounding as though she was falling asleep again. "The uncolored circle is the good, the black circle is the evil. They're so far apart, but the shattered pieces bring them together to symbolize that it all comes together in one way or another."

"What about the lines going through the circles?" Clarke asks, tracing the good circle.

"There's a blurred line on what would be considered good and what would be considered evil. You could do something bad but with good intentions, or you could do something good with bad intentions. None of us is pure, Clarke. None of us is innocent."

"That is..." Clarke doesn't have a word for what Lexa just said. " _Wow..._ " She next finds herself running her fingers across the scar on her shoulder blade again. "What happened here?"

Lexa slowly rolls onto her back to look at Clarke now. "Can we talk about something else?" The desperate plea in her forest green eyes is enough to make Clarke pretend she never even saw them to begin with.

"We don't have to talk at all." She offers in a velvety voice and a seductive quirk of her brow.

Lexa smiles at the blonde as she rolls over to face her. She moves forward and kisses Clarke, her hand sliding into Clarke's perfectly like a piece of a puzzle. She shifts so she's halfway laying on Clarke and Clarke guides her hand down her body until Lexa takes control herself and reaches Clarke's desired area. When her fingers dip into Clarke's heat, her eyebrows pull up in amusement and arousal and Clarke rolls her eyes with a slightly embarrassed twitch upward of her lip.

"Your back muscles and your tattoos are sexy, what else can I say?"

Lexa takes no time at all to dip a single digit into Clarke, and she watches the way the blonde sighs, her head falling into the pillow and her eyelids fluttering. She feels the soft hands of the artist tighten just the slightest, all delicate pressure and no sharp or digging nails. Clarke bites her bottom lip softly as she opens her eyes again and stares deeply into the two small spheres of forest above her. She's warm, so warm, and not because of what they're doing at this very moment. There's a hurricane in the pit of her stomach every time she looks at Lexa, and it intensified the night before on that Ferris wheel, and even more last night in her bedroom, and, God, even more at this very moment. She doesn't know what to make of it, but she lets it take over her senses the same time her orgasm does. It's a waterfall of ecstasy and breathy words when she sighs out, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

She feels Lexa stop for a millisecond, but she gathers herself before the pause can screw up Clarke's drawn out orgasm. When Clarke's grip on her shoulders loosen and her breathing steadies, Lexa looks at her in a nervous skepticism. "Clarke?"

Clarke is nervous herself. The look Lexa gives her looks like the brunette is ready of jump out of the bed, pick her clothes up and dart out of the room without even bothering to put anything on, before Clarke never hears from her again. She wants to take her words back, but it's too late; she's already blurted them out. So she does the next best thing:

She babbles.

"I-I mean, I know it's early in our relationship—not that this is a relationship or anything, but I just thought it'd be something that, you know, we were both thinking about. If it's not, that's totally cool, we can just pretend I never said it and act like nothing happened and I just had an amazing orgasm and that was it, and—

Lexa presses the fingers of her clean hand against Clarke's mouth to shut her up, and Clarke stares up at her with wide and worried eyes.

"Did you mean it, or did you just blurt it out from the rush of things?" Her voice is very feminine and pensive, quiet with caution as she searches Clarke's face for any sign of regret. She retracts her fingers from Clarke's lips so she can speak.

Clarke nods her head slowly, eyes never leaving Lexa's. "I mean it. I want you to be my girlfriend if you want the same."

Clarke watches as Lexa continues scanning her face for hesitance, but she knows the older girl won't find any on it. When she gives her a small smile and starts rubbing her hand up and down Clarke's bare leg, the blonde sighs in premature relief. "Clarke, I'd love to be your girlfriend..." Clarke's heart drops from the obvious _'but'_ left hanging in the air. "I don't want to rush into it, you know? We just had sex—that we _remember_. Can we take it a bit slower?"

Clarke nods shortly, feeling the embarrassment wash over her. She should have held her tongue. Lexa was right, this was way too fast. She slowly rolls the brunette over and straddles her. "That's fine."

Lexa watches every feature on Clarke's face as the blonde plays absentmindedly traces her abs. Clarke is obviously upset. "I'm sorry, Clarke. I just..."

"No, it's fine, Lexa. I promise." Clarke is lying and Lexa knows it. But she leans down and rubs her full lips across Lexa's soft ones until Lexa parts her lips to kiss her. She pulls away before Lexa gets the chance, however. "I can't think of anything better, at the moment."

In that moment, the smell of bacon fills the room and Lexa's stomach starts to grumble. Clarke is flipped back onto her back with a yelp and a moan when Lexa nibbles at her neck softly. "I can probably think of something." She pulls her face up, and with a wicked smirk, she hops off of the bed and takes her boy shorts from the ground before slipping them on. "Breakfast."

Clarke chucks a pillow at the taller girl when she's hopping on one foot to put her jeans on and watches her topple onto the floor with a low thump and grunt. Clarke laughs as she hops off the bed and pulls on Lexa's white button-up before slipping on a pair of pajama shorts from her dresser. When she turns around, she finds Lexa, fully dressed in her jeans and white tank, staring at her from the end of the bed.

"What?"

Lexa shakes her head. "You just look really good in that shirt."

Clarke feels herself blushing as she turns to the door and heads out with Lexa right behind her. When they walk into the living room, they're met with a very interesting sight.

In the kitchen stands Octavia, frying up a pan of bacon as she scrambles another pan of eggs on the stove. She's _humming_ , and Clarke is almost ready to believe she just walked into another dimension, because she's never seen Octavia cooking without complaining about having to do it, let alone _humming_ while she does it. On the couch sits Raven and Anya, and Clarke's jaw almost breaks off and falls to the floor when she sees that Raven's leg is propped up on the soldier's lap and the girl is rubbing her knee. Lexa looks just as surprised as Clarke feels, and she's not sure if it's from seeing Anya in the apartment in the first place, or the entire sight in front of them.

"Um..." Lexa finds her voice (kind of) first, and grabs the attention of all three of the them.

"Well, look who decided to come out of their sex cave." Raven yells out before flinching and cradling her head, obviously very hungover.

"Morning, Sunshines." Octavia practically sings in a teasing voice before turning back to the stove.

"What is actually happening right now?" Clarke asks slowly as she steps up to the couch and stares from the two of them to the youngest girl in the kitchen.

"Well, I'm getting a very nice knee massage from my new best friend, while Puppy Love over there cooks everyone breakfast that she actually volunteered to make."

"Puppy Love?" Clarke repeats. The answer she receives is a loud moan from the Latina, who throws her head back on the couch's arm rest.

"That right there, Ahn. You're killing me in the best way."

" _Ahn_?" Lexa repeats, tilting her head at Anya.

"Damn, Clarke, I'm seriously surprised you managed to keep Lexa in bed this late. You didn't sneak out for a run this morning?" Anya asks.

"Left my sports bra." Lexa says dully, rubbing her shoulder awkwardly.

"I'm sure that's why." Anya snorts.

"Food is ready!" Octavia calls to the four of them as she carries two plates toward them. "Someone mind getting the pancakes?"

After Lexa carries over the pancakes, she and Clarke sit on the floor together, while Octavia pushes past Raven to join the two on the couch as they all eat.

"Anyone care to explain what is going on?" Clarke asks. "Since when do you volunteer to cook, O?"

Octavia rolls her eyes. "Can't a girl just cook for her friends without there being a reason?"

"We guessed it has something to do with Lincoln last night." Anya says. When Octavia avoids the eye contact of all four pairs of eyes staring at her, it's confirmation enough to earn three different tones of "ohhh"s (Lexa's mouth being too full of egg to join in). Octavia sighs and sets her fork down, giving them all half-hearted exasperated looks. Clarke can tell she's been dying to spill this whole time.

"Oh fine," She says, trying and failing to hide her smile. "Though I hate you all for ditching me immediately at the fair! We had a pretty great time. Lincoln is super sweet and nice and—

"And hot, yeah, go on." Raven interrupts. Octavia ignores her.

"We spent the whole time just talking about everything. We went on rides, played games, shared a funnel cake." She sighs dreamily. "It was just a great time. We stayed out for a while—though not as long as Raven here" She makes sure to shoot an evil smirk at the girl, knowing very well the attention will soon be drawn onto the two looking quite cozy together on the couch when Clarke walked in. "Lincoln drove me home after the fair, walked me to the door, and kissed me on the cheek before I came inside."

"That's it?" Raven looks like a kid who was just told there's no such thing as Santa Clause. "You didn't have hot car sex? He didn't leave early in the morning before you were awake with a note on your door with his number on it?" It's a playful jab at Lexa, and Clarke turns her gaze at the girl to see her ears turning a bright red and her eyes staring at her plate. Clarke chuckles and nudges her shoulder into Lexa's side.

Octavia rolls her eyes. "No, Rae. Like I said, he was a gentleman. He asked me out on a date next week."

"God, what is with you Army losers being so sweet and respectful." Raven mumbles. "I just wanted to get my dick wet last night, but noooo. I was _'too drunk'_ and _'needed to get some sleep'_." She shoots a joking glare at Anya, who rolls her eyes with a chuckle.

"You could barely even yell at me for not getting your dick wet last night, because you were so drunk." Anya defends. "I was not about to let you go home with some random person."

"It didn't have to be a random person!" Raven grumbles stubbornly.

"I promise you, you do not want to be another name on Monroe's list."

"I was not talking about Monroe." Raven says simply. Anya stares at the Latina, who is pushing a bacon strip around her plate with her fork.

"Don't tease me." Anya deadpans with another roll of her eyes.

The other three exchange looks with one another in silence for a moment until Octavia breaks it. "Okay... Well I'm not touching that with ten foot pole." She turns her full attention to Clarke and Lexa, and Clarke sees it coming from a mile away. "So, how was the sex? Because it sounding pretty good from where I was trying to sleep in my room when I got home."

Lexa groans, setting her forehead in her palm to hide her face.

"Oh, thank god we didn't get back early enough to witness that." Anya says.

"I didn't hear you get home." Clarke says.

"How could you?" Octavia says, and Clarke mentally slaps herself for walking into what's about to be said. "You were loud enough, I'm surprised Lexa didn't go deaf."

"Oh, quit exaggerating." Clarke threatens.

"I'm sure she's not exaggerating that much." Raven says, setting her leg down on the floor and leaning into Octavia's shoulder. "I've heard you enough times to know she's probably not too far off."

"Oh my god, I hate you both!" Clarke exclaims, throwing a strip of bacon at Raven, who pulls it off of her shirt and eats it.

"Have you two..." Lexa starts, pointing between Clarke and Raven, trying to piece the puzzles together.

"No!" Clarke cries out. "God no!"

"We've heard her having her _alone time_ in her bedroom." Octavia clarifies through her laughter. "A lot."

"Kill me now." Clarke mumbles, hiding her face in her hands.

"Not to mention that one time I walked in on you in that empty classroom with—"

"Don't you dare!" Clarke's wide eyes are on Raven, her voice hard with threat. "I thought we agreed we wouldn't ever talk about this ever again."

"Do I want to know?" Lexa asks, looking between the three roommates questioningly. Octavia shrugs at her with an I'm-sorry-about-this look on her face.

"That was before you got yourself a girlfriend." Raven says, proud of the soon to be betrayal. Clarke winces at the word she uses to describe Lexa, and avoids looking over at her. "As I was saying. There was that one time in high school when I walked in on you and my boyfriend-at-the-time fondling each other in an empty classroom and you were moaning so much you didn't even know I was there until pulled Finn back by his hair."

Simultaneously, Octavia begins laughing; while Clarke jumps from her spot on the floor and charges at Raven, beating on her with a couch cushion; Anya bellows out a laugh and a "No fucking way,"; Lexa gapes at the two fighting girls in disbelief. When Octavia pulls Clarke off of the oldest roommate, Clarke's face is beet red with embarrassment and Raven's is red with hilarity.

"I have to hear this story." Anya says, a wide smile stretching her cheeks.

"You hooked up with your best friend's boyfriend?" Lexa asks, completely enthralled in the story as well.

"We weren't best friends at the time." Clarke defends, over her anger at her friend and sitting at the bottom of the couch facing Lexa with her head resting on Raven's legs. "I barely even knew who she was."

"So I was dating this guy called Finn." Raven starts, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around Clarke. "We were dating from the summer between my freshman and sophomore years up until I walked in on them in my senior year."

"I met him my junior year, her senior." Clarke says. "He was cute and he was always flirting with me. I had no idea he was in a relationship, and we started hooking up."

"I knew he was no good from the second he started talking to you." Octavia says, her eyes narrowed.

"How long did this last?" Anya asks.

"Two months." Clarke answers with a grimace. "Word spread, which is funny, since word never spread while I was with him. But it spread like wildfire and I was the school's slut for the rest of the year."

"Bell and I kicked Fuckboy's ass one day after school," Octavia says with a proud smile and a hand squeezing Clarke's shoulder while the other did the same to Raven's.

"Clarke came to me a week after I found them together and explained how she didn't know he was with me. We kicked his ass together. All three of us were sent to detention together for a week, and that's how we became the best of friends."

"Well, I was her best friend before off that, to be fair." Octavia makes sure to clarify, earning a swat to the face and a scoff by Raven.

"Wow." Lexa says when they finish explaining. "That's a crazy story."

"Even crazier is that you're the first person since then that she's been with." Raven says and Clarke groans.

"Clarke Griffin, am I the first girl you've ever been with?" Lexa asks in amusement.

"No," Clarke says, sending a hard glare at her best friend. "You are not."

"Sorry, I meant you're her first girlfriend." Raven corrects.

Lexa's phone starts ringing and she looks at the screen with furrowed brows before standing up. "Sorry, I have to take this." She walks out of the front door, leaving the other four to chat.

"Ease up on the girlfriend jokes, will you?" Clarke says to Raven and Octavia a little more harshly than she meant. "I don't want things to get weird between us. We're not dating."

Raven lifts her hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I didn't think it was a big deal."

"Did something happen?" Octavia asks.

"Do I need to talk to her?" Anya asks.

"No, you don't need to talk to her. I just made things weird this morning. A couple of times. I don't want anything to scare her off."

"You won't, don't worry." Anya assures. "She likes you a lot. Everyone can tell. Trust me, it'll be fine. But if you need me to talk to her at any time, just let me know."

Clarke lets her words sink in. _Her not leaving immediately is a good sign_ , she thinks. She sighs and shakes the thoughts out of her head.

"Okay, so what's going on with you two?" Clarke asks, changing the subject and looking up between Anya and Raven.

"Nothing." Anya says simply. "We're just friends."

Raven nods her head in agreement. "Just friends, I promise."

"But if you ever offer, I mean..."

"Oh, shut up." Raven chuckles, pushing Anya's head playfully.

The front door opens and Lexa walks in, shoving her phone into her pocket. She sits down quietly and everyone watches her expectantly.

"I'm getting an earlier promotion." Lexa says simply, her smile fitting smoothly on her face.

"Seriously?" Anya perks up. "It's about damn time! That was long overdue! You're seriously one of the hardest workers we have!"

Lexa taps the pocket her phone is in. "Just got the call." She leans forward, stretching her arms out toward Clarke, who joins her on her lap in a tight hug.

"Congratulations, Lex!" Clarke says, feeling much lighter than she had just minutes ago. "That's fantastic."

Everyone gives Lexa their congratulations and Clarke spins around to get to her previous spot. Lexa doesn't let up her grip on the girl, however, and pulls her back to sit in her lap, front pressed to her back, and wraps her arms around her. Clarke feels Lexa's face right by hers and the warmth of her breath hitting her ear sends shivers down her spine.

"Would you like to pin my rank on me during the ceremony?" Lexa whispers in Clarke's ear.

Clarke turns her head to look at her. "Are you serious?" Lexa nods surely. "Lexa Woods, I would be honored." She stretches back and kisses Lexa on the cheek as the brunette tightens her arms around her.

"Okay, this is hella cute. I'm going to start vomiting rainbows if I have to keep watching this." Raven says tucking her head under Octavia's arm. "I'm too hungover for this."

They spend most of the rest of their day off sitting on the couch watching movies and chatting. Octavia orders pizza for them all when it starts to get near dinner time and Clarke takes the time waiting for them to be delivered to pull Lexa back into her room.

Clarke has been anxious all day, wondering if she made things weird with Lexa by blurting out what she did in the morning. Sure, Lexa asked her to pin her at the promotion ceremony, but still. Throughout the day, she'd been really quiet and reticent and Clarke had been getting weird vibes from her, and she didn't know whether it was actually there or if she was just paranoid and imagining it all. When they walk into her room, Clarke leans against the end of her bed and surveys the elegancy in the way Lexa walks around her room, looking at every painted easel and every sketch of paper scattered throughout her room.

She stops at a particular painting on the wall of a blonde man and brunette woman sitting at a bench in a park in the Fall season, cuddled together on the end of the bench. The leaves in the background are brilliant shades of reds and oranges and yellows and browns. The woman is leaning into the man's chest with a delicate smile on her face and her hair blowing just slightly in the wind. The man has one leg propped up on his other leg, calf against knee. One of his arms is holding onto the woman, while his other is draped over the bench's back. He's looking off to the side at something not in the artwork, but the bright blue eye that is visible in the painting is enough for anyone to know that the man in the painting is Clarke's father; the smile that graces the woman's lips is the same smile that graces Clarke's. Clarke remembers every bit of emotion that went into that painting and feels them all every time she looks at it.

"This is breathtaking, Clarke." Lexa says in a hushed voice, as though her breath was literally taken from her. "Beautiful."

"Thank you." Clarke says sincerely as she waits patiently for Lexa's attention to shift completely to her. She is all nerves and shaky hands for some reason, and it frustrates her because she can't remember the last time someone has made her so nervous for reasons like this.

Lexa catches the hesitance in her voice quickly and turns slowly to face her. "Clarke, what's wrong?"

Clarke blows out a breath she didn't know she was holding and fights back the nerves she's knows will be present in her words. "Did I make things weird? This morning when I asked you to be my girlfriend. I know you said you didn't want to rush things, but did me asking scare you away a little? You've been quiet and reserved a lot today, and I just feel like maybe you're rethinking your time with me."

Clarke finishes her thought processes and waits uneasily for Lexa to speak, which takes a rather long time. Lexa seems to be analyzing Clarke from halfway across the bedroom. She's like a panther, and Clarke is the deer fallen prey to her intense green eyes that seem to get more and more intense by the second. When Clarke starts to squirm under her gaze, Lexa steps closer and sighs.

"Clarke," Her voice is soft, but her eyes are still just as intense as before. "Is this really what you have been worrying about all day? You have been worrying about what I am thinking?" Clarke looks away from the taller woman and nods. "Clarke, I have been acting the same as I usually do. I’m quiet. I'm reserved. You must not see it much because when we're together, it's usually just me and you, except for the times we're drinking. I've been worried that you aren't happy with me about this morning. You've been more quiet than usual today. You're the talkative one in this relationship, and you're not exactly so talkative today with your friends."

"So you're worried about me, and I'm worried about you?" Clarke says, huffing out a dry laugh at how stupid she feels. "I've been so worried that I screwed everything up with my big mouth that I've been the one acting weird."

Lexa chuckles as she reaches Clarke and places her hands reassuringly on Clarke's arms. The intensity in her eyes is still strong, but Clarke doesn't feel so intimidated by them anymore; instead, she's comforted by them. She locks her fingers together behind Lexa's hips and smiles up at her.

"I like your big mouth. It's cute when you start nervously babbling."

"Did you say relationship?" Clarke asks, moving the attention away from her.

Lexa freezes and looks back at Clarke. "I did say that, didn't I?"

Clarke laughs lightly. "Don't worry, I'll pretend I didn't hear it."

"Well," Lexa says slowly. "I mean, we _are_ dating. And I'm only seeing _you_ and nobody else."

"But this is not a relationship." Clarke says in amusement. "We are dating exclusively."

"Okay." Lexa nods in agreement. "That's what it is. We're exclusive. Is that okay for now?"

"That's perfect, Lex." Clarke laughs. "But I am confused. Why do you seem so nervous to be in a relationship?"

Lexa ponders her answer for a moment, and Clarke finds her thinking pout to be absolutely adorable. "The military is a tricky thing for a lot of people to deal with." She starts. "I've had relationships while in the Army, and they always end poorly badly for me. I get stationed elsewhere, I get deployed, I'm too busy, there are many factors and many things people can't handle. I am giving you time to experience it without the full commitment, that way when you realize you hate it, you don't have to break up with me."

"You think that's going to happen?" Clarke asks, flabbergasted. "That I'm going to hate dating you and dump you?" Lexa shrugs. "Did I ever tell you that my dad was in the Army?"

"You told me your mom is dating ex-Army." Lexa says.

"Yeah, well he was my dad's friend from the Army. So I know a lot about the military life, Lex. I think I can handle you."

Lexa eyes her before chuckling. "Well, still. You've never _dated_ military. You'll see."

"I can wait." Clarke says confidently, rocking the two of them side to side and kissing Lexa's collar bones. "Come on, let’s go back before they think we're doing something else."

"Who says we aren't?" Lexa asks, eyes darkening and voice velvety.

Clarke smiles at the lips in front of her and pulls Lexa down with her as she drops onto the bed. "Just until the pizza delivery man shows up."

"Try not to be as loud as last night." Lexa giggles against Clarke's mouth. "Or during your _alone times_."

Clarke laughs and smacks Lexa's shoulder playfully. "Shut up, we probably only have like ten more minutes."

"I can work with that." Lexa boasts. Clarke knows it's not a lie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter went in a different direction I had planned at first. First, they weren't going to take that step at all, then I decided one of them was going to ask but they would make it official. Who was expecting Clarke to ask and Lexa to REJECT her?? I wasn't even expecting it until I decided it when I was almost done with the chapter and had to go back rewrite it! Haha. Anyway, I hope you liked this chap! :D Lemme know what you think!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa does something special for an overworked Clarke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to write. I had a little writer's block, and I've been really busy and stressed out lately. I was only able to proof read half of it, so I apologize for any inconsistencies.

_Mirror mirror on the wall,_

_Who's the fairest of them all?_

_Tell me I'm the perfect queen._

Lexa pushes the bar away from her chest with a grunt and exhale, before bringing it back down. Her muscles clench as she pushes up again and the beads of sweat dripping down her face have her hair soaked.

_Mirror mirror in my hand,_

_Who's the fairest in the land?_

_Are they lining up for me?_

Her arms are starting to shake from the exertion, but that's not going to stop her. Up, down, up, down, up, down. It's been too long since she's been at the gym and she feels the difference when she grits her teeth at her next push up.

_Turn it on, tune it in, let it out._

_Turn it on, tune it in, let it out._

She feels a tap on her right arm and she looks further up and behind her to see Lincoln nodding his head. She knows she should stop. Her arms are trembling like two leaves in the wind and if she keeps it up, this barbell is going straight into her skull. Well, not with Lincoln spotting, but still. But she's only two away from finishing her last set.

"Two more, River." Lexa tells him. She doesn't know if he objects or not, since the music blaring in her ears drowns out any other noise, but he doesn't take the barbell away from her, so she takes that as an okay to continue.

When she finishes, Lincoln helps her place the barbell back on its rack and takes the weights off each end. Their workout for the day is done and Lexa pulls the earbuds out of her ears. She lets out a heavy breath and catches the rag Lincoln tosses her to wipe the sweat from her face.

"You alright there, Woods?" Lincoln asks after he wipes the sweat from his mouth. "You got winded quicker than usual today."

"That's because I haven't been to the gym as much as I should be." Lexa says as they walk out of the gym. "I need to get back into my routine. Gym every day after work, no excuses." Her open hands smack together to emphasis her words and Lincoln chuckles.

"Sure."

Lexa snaps her head up to look at Lincoln with furrowed brows. "What do you mean by that?"

Lincoln looks back to his friend with a teasing smile. "You _have_ been working out. Just not at the gym." Lexa tilts her head in confusion and Lincoln chuckles. "From what I hear, Clarke's been giving you a pretty good workout."

Lexa's brows shoot up when she finally gets his implication and she turns back to face the sideway they're walking on. She rubs the back of her neck and wipes the sweat on the leg of her sweatpants with a moderate, yet glowing chuckle and a small yet enthusiastic smile on her lips. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Look at yourself!" Lincoln exclaims, bumping Lexa with his shoulder. "You look so much happier with her, you know. More relaxed, more at peace. More at home."

Lexa looks back at Lincoln again and her best friend's expression is soft.

"At lot more at home than when we were kids." Lincoln finishes, placing a hand on Lexa's shoulder and squeezing. "This girl is good for you."

"Yeah, I think she is." Lexa says with a smile.

"Plus, your girlfriend is hot. You should hear what the guys say when she comes to see you here." Lincoln adds.

"She's not my girlfriend." Lexa corrects. "Wait, what do they say?"

"Relax, _Sergeant_ , nothing too bad. I make sure they're in line. And come on, Lex, you two have been dating for a while now, don't you think about making it official?"

Lexa sighs. They had been dating for a little over month already, and Lexa had yet to make their relationship official. To her surprise (and relief), Clarke hadn't asked again either. She could tell the blonde wanted it to be official already. When someone called them girlfriends, she would catch the way Clarke would look away, or how her body would tense for a split second. Yes, Lexa did want Clarke to be her girlfriend, she was just scared to take it to the next level, even if she didn't want to admit it to anyone. Even to herself.

After their first night together (that they remembered), the two made sure to see each other more than before. When Lexa was promoted to Sergeant, Clarke was the one that pinned her with a proud smile. When Lexa gets off from work most of the time, she would meet up with Clarke and watch her paint or sketch or study. When Clarke had free time, she would sometimes surprise Lexa at work or meet her in the barracks. Most of the time, however, was spent in Clarke's apartment and not Lexa's barracks, since Lexa's place was almost always filled with people.

Lately, however, Clarke was a bit busier with projects as the school year came closer and closer to ending. There were still a few months left of it, but everyone in Clarke's apartment were wild with starting their projects. Lexa had no idea how stressful art school was until one day when she went to Clarke's to surprise her and found her practically knee deep in art books and sketch pads and paint brushes and pencils, and a laptop with some sort of start of a graphic design. Lexa was sure the woman didn't even have any graphic design courses.

"I will when the time is right." Lexa grumbles to Lincoln.

 

A few days later, Lexa sits on the floor of her barracks in a sports bra and PT shorts, surrounded by more half-dressed women: Anya, Costia, Echo, Luna, and Monroe.

"Uno." Lexa says happily as she sets a yellow number two card on top of the pile in the middle of the circle the women formed.

"Honey, not for long." Luna says beside her, a smirk on her face. As said, when it comes back to Luna's turn, she hits Lexa with a Wild Draw Four and calls out the color blue.

"Oh, come on!" Lexa exclaims with a laugh as she takes the four cards, none of them being blue. "We've been at this one game for over an hour already, just let me win!"

"Not a chance, Woods." Anya chuckles when it's her turn. She puts down a Reverse, and Lexa's stuck drawing another card for blue. It's another thirty minutes until Echo finally wins the game and they start a new one. A few minutes into it, Lexa's phone rings and she answers it.

"Hello?"

"Hey." Clarke's voice says.

"Clarke, hey!" Lexa says happily. She hadn't spoken to the woman all day.

"Are you busy?" Clarke asks.

"Busy? No." Lexa says.

"Yeah, you're busy!" Monroe exclaims loudly enough for Clarke to hear her over the phone. "You're with us!"

"Shut up." Lexa warns, glaring at the girl across from her.

"I'm sorry, if this is a bad time, I can talk to you later."

"No," Lexa responds a little too quickly and desperately. She clears her throat awkwardly and adjusts her tone to a more calming one. "It's fine. We're just playing a card game. I can multi-task. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine..." Clarke trails off, as though wanting to say more, but choosing not to. Lexa picks up on the hesitance.

"Clarke?"

Clarke sighs on the other side. "I just miss you is all. Is that too weird of me to say? It's only been a few days since we've seen each other and I don't want to come off as clingy or anything."

Lexa feels her ears heat up as she fights (and fails) to hide a smile from the other girls. "No, it's not weird of you to say." And then, quieter so the other girls can't hear, "I miss you too."

Clarke is sure to hear the chorus of booing and halfhearted complaints, along with a very loud and drawn out "GAAAAYYYY" by Anya. Clarke laughs her relief and Lexa rolls her eyes at her annoying group friends.

"That's good to hear, really." Clarke says, sighing lightly. "I've just been really busy working on these finals project for school, and I gave myself a day to just relax and now I'm feeling lonely and homesick. "

"Homesick?"

Clarke chuckles a bit. "I haven't had a real home cooked meal in so long. Nothing but pizza and ramen. I miss my mom's cooking so much right now."

Lexa pouts at her phone, despite Clarke not being able to see her. She gets an idea in her head suddenly, and blurts out, "How about I cook you something?" as she throws down a Skip card.

Everyone looks up at the brunette, but she ignores them. "What?" Clarke says through a small laugh.

"I can make you something tonight, if you want." Lexa says. "We can have a home cooked dinner date."

"Are you being serious right now?" Clarke asks.

"Very." Lexa chuckles. "Come over, I'll cook my best meal."

"Fuck yeah, Lexa's going to make us some food!" Anya exclaims, and everyone responds with cheering. Lexa glares at them all.

"I'm not making _you_ food."

"We're not leaving now!" Monroe says. "We haven't had home cooked meals in forever!"

"You never offer to cook us food!" Costia protests. "I didn't even know you could cook!"

"No." Lexa says simply, followed by five groans.

Clarke chuckles on the other side. "It's fine, Lex, they sound very sad. Let them stay, I haven't seen Anya and Costia in a while. I'll bring the girls over too if it's okay."

"But what about the date?" Lexa says with another pout she's sure Clarke can _feel_.

"When I'm not stressing over school crap, we'll have a date every other day, got it? I promise."

Lexa nods, but speaks when she remembers Clarke can't see her. "Alright, fine. They can stay." Costia and Anya high five beside her, and she sends them a strong glare. "Come over whenever you want. I'll go get some ingredients and meet you back here."

"Can't wait." Clarke says happily, before they end the call.

Lexa puts her phone down and looks at each of her friends for a moment. "I hate all over you. Who's coming with me?"

 

The knock on the door lets the six women once again playing a card game know that Clarke has made it. Lexa hurries to the door and opens it, expecting to see Clarke smiling up at her. She barely has the door ajar before Raven pushes it further open, practically knocking Lexa off of her feet.

"What's up, bitches!" The Latina shouts. She brings her arm up, brandishing a bottle of alcohol to everyone. "I brought vodka!"

Lexa turns back to the door to give Clarke an amused look, to which Clarke shakes her head and chuckles before stepping in and kissing Lexa on the cheek. Octavia pushes past them, grumbling about being stuck watching the exchange of affection and wanting to gauge her eyes out.

"Why am I not surprised, Reyes?" Anya says with a wide grin when Raven plops down with the group of women.

"I see I missed out on the beginnings of a good time." Raven says, eyeing the six girls whom are all sporting little amount of clothing. Lexa looks down, suddenly remembering that when she got back from grabbing ingredients at the commissary, she had stripped down to her sports bra and PT shorts once again. "Do I get right into, do you want a little tease, first?" She directs the question to everyone, but smirks at Anya specifically, who rolls her eyes with a loose smile.

"No to both options." Anya says. "Actually, I have a parka in my closet I would happily lend you to keep you fully clothed and the dinner Woods is going to cook us from coming back up later tonight."

Lexa leads Clarke further into the room as Anya and Raven start their usual bickering. "It looks like everyone's a lot more comfortably dressed than us." Clarke chuckles lightly when they reach the kitchen.

"You look beautiful, Clarke." Lexa says, pecking Clarke's lips. "As always."

"And you really know how to make a girl feel special." Clarke says with a wider smile at the compliment. "As always." Lexa smiles at her before turning toward the refrigerator. "What's on the menu tonight? I didn't know you could cook."

"That's because I can't." Lexa deadpans. Clarke stares at her, open mouthed, and Lexa can't help but laugh. "I can't only make a few things. One of those things would be spaghetti and meatballs, so that's what I'm making you. I know it's not much, and you could easily just buy that at some restaurant, but I don't want to fuck up making something else. I wanted to make you _something_ at least."

Clarke steps into Lexa's personal space and cups her face with her both hands before pulling her into a hard and passionate kiss. Taken slightly by surprise, it takes Lexa a bit to reciprocate, but when she does, she grabs on to one of Clarke's elbow and her waist gently. It's a kiss filled with a message Lexa doesn't need to be vocalized to understand. It's gratitude and compassion and a bundle of other emotions that Clarke throws into it. It's slow and intense, but neither of them push it further, only taking what the other provides until Clarke pulls away and sets her sparkling blue eyes on Lexa's. They're close enough that Lexa can see the different shades of blue skies and deep oceans that make the pair of orbs so special to her. She can see the specks of gold and yellow rimming her slightly dilated pupils, and the way her eyes shift from looking at each of Lexa's eyes.

"This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me." Clarke breathes finally, and they're so close that Lexa can feel her hot and fruity breath on her face. "You're really good at this."

"Good at what, exactly?" Lexa asks, tucking a loose strand of Clarke's hair behind her ear.

Clarke doesn't answer her for a bit, and Lexa can't read the expression on her face. When she does speak again, her expression turns more teasing than anything else. "Trying to get me to bed."

Lexa takes the sudden change in atmosphere without complaint, not wanting to force whatever Clarke really meant out, and smirks. "Don't say that until you actually taste it. You might change your mind when I'm done."

"Well..." Clarke starts, dropping both her hands and her gaze down to Lexa's revealed stomach. Her fingers run down her lightly prominent six pack. When she looks back up, her eyes are darker and her voice is huskier and low. "You're body could make up for anything, honestly."

Lexa pulls Clarke's body closer to her, but when Clarke steps close enough that their bodies are starting to press together, Monroe interrupts them with a purposefully loud call. "How about you stop being all coupley and come join us, Griffin!" Lexa looks past Clarke to see Raven has taken her shirt off to show off her toned torso, and Octavia is now wearing basketball shorts that Lexa knows to be Costia's. "Let Chef Woods start cooking, I'm starving!"

It's not long before Lexa has finished making the meatballs and is almost done with the sauce, and everyone is well into their drinking games. Clarke has substituted her skinny jeans with another pair of Lexa's PT shorts and Lincoln has joined the group after hearing his girlfriend was there.

"We've got three choices of drinking games," Anya says to everyone after Luna 'accidentally' flips the Monopoly board as she tried to hand Raven the last of her money for landing on Boardwalk for the third time. "Either Never Have I Ever, Spin the Bottle, or Truth or Dare."

"Am I back in my freshman year of high school?" Echo groans.

"If you've got any better game ideas, go right ahead." Anya counters. With no other requests, they end up playing Never Have I Ever, starting with ten fingers.

"Lexa, you're playing too." Luna tells her.

"This game ruins relationships." Lexa says, looking over at Lincoln, who is already staring over at her knowingly.

"Not unless it's a strong and trusting relationship." Anya says, glancing between Octavia and Lincoln with a wicked smile, before she innocently looks from Clarke to Lexa. "Is that going to be a problem for you four?" Lincoln shakes his head and Lexa grumbles a 'no'. "Good. I'll start. Never have I ever used a strap-on."

"Wait," Lexa immediately says, glaring at Anya. "Used it on someone, or had it used on you?"

Anya rolls her eyes. "Either one." Monroe, Echo, Raven, Clarke, and Lexa all take drinks from their beer or mixed drinks.

"Never have I ever been out of the country, and name the places." Clarke says next, and Lincoln, Lexa, Anya, Luna, and Raven drink this time.

"Germany for two years, and Afghanistan for nine months." Lincoln says.

"I was born in Egypt, I lived in Japan and Germany. I've been to South Africa, a couple of places in Europe, and I was deployed to Afghanistan for six months." Anya states. Everyone gawks at her. "What? My mom was in the Army."

"Damn..." Raven mumbles. "Lucky. I was just born in Puerto Rico. I don't even really remember it either. That counts, right?" With that, everyone nods their heads yes.

"I was in South Korea for a year." Luna says.

"When I was a kid, I lived in Italy and Japan. I visited Germany, Greece, and France. Joining the Army, I've been to Afghanistan for six months and a few other places here and there." Lexa says with her back to them as she puts the noodles into the boiling pot.

"Your turn, Lex!" Costia says.

"Never have I ever smoked marijuana." Lexa says, turning to face them.

"Bullshit!" Raven accuses.

"Not bullshit." Lexa says with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. "Never done it."

"Why not?" Monroe asks.

"I don't know. I just never cared enough to do it."

Raven looks to Clarke. "Do you believe this woman?"

Clarke chuckles. "Not everyone smokes, Raven." She brings her beer to her lips and takes a small sip as she looks back at Lexa. Everyone else in the room follows her action, and Lexa is surprised to see that Lincoln does as well.

"Linc?? When was this??"

"That one time at John Kidman's summer party, remember? The one where you took a body shot off of your crush and hid in that big shrub when the cops came."

"Wait, what??" Anya practically screams with amusement.

"Oh, I've gotta hear this!" Costia laughs.

Lexa can't help the breathy laugh that comes out of her at the quick memory, but she stays focused on Lincoln. "You were high?? I thought you were just drunk!"

"It was just that one time, and it wasn't much. I think I'm allergic or something."

"You two knew each other before the Army?" Clarke asks curiously.

"Yep. Back at the home." Lincoln says with a smile. When he looks to Lexa, however, his smile drops and he retracts his words. "From school. We knew each other from school."

"Wait, wait, wait, _what_?" Anya says again, louder to grab everyone's attention. "Am I the only one still trying to imagine _Lexa Woods_ hiding from the police in a _shrub_? I have to know more!"

Lexa waves her demand away. "Another time. Or when I'm a little more drunk."

At that, Anya, Clarke, Raven, and Luna all get up, waving their choice of drink in their hands, and loudly make their way toward Lexa. Everyone's laughing and when they surround her, they're all trying to offer her their drink, despite her having one of her own in her hand. After much overlapping pleads, three of the girls head back to the rest of the group, still laughing from their unplanned joke mob. Clarke stays with Lexa in the kitchen and hops up onto the small counter to watch her in action.

"You're hot when you cook, you know that?" She says to Lexa's back. Lexa turns around and stands in front of the blonde, who opens her legs welcomingly for Lexa to get closer. Lexa steps snuggly between Clarke's legs and rests her hands on Clarke's thighs, looking up at her with a smile.

"You're a little drunk, you know that?"

Clarke laughs a bit and leans her head down until her face is just inches from Lexa's. "Not yet. A little _tipsy_ , yes, but not drunk. I would like to still have my sense of taste when I eat what you give me." She leans down the rest of the way and kisses Lexa. When she pulls away again, she has a grin on her lips. "Take that _however_ you'd like."

"It's Octavia's turn, you horny bastards!" Echo yells, pulling them out of their own world. Clarke groans exasperatedly, and Lexa laughs at the sound.

"You're the one that said it was okay for them to be here, were you not?"

"Don't ever let me make such a stupid decision again." She says.

"Never have I ever had a threesome." Octavia says loud enough for them to hear.

Lexa looks at Clarke, eyebrow raised in faux expectance. When Clarke takes her beer bottle to her lips, Lexa's jaw drops. Clarke starts laughing and lowers her drink back onto the counter. "I'm kidding!" She says through her laughter.

"Are you serious??" Octavia exclaims, and Lexa and Clarke turn to look at what has her so surprised.

Monroe, and Lincoln are drinking; one proudly, the other nervously. Octavia stares at her boyfriend in disbelief. Lexa laughs loudly at her best friend's nervous face, knowing very well the exact day he's drinking to.

"Everyone has a past, O." Clarke giggles.

"I know." Octavia's expression lightens at the reminder. "I'm just a little surprised."

"Yeah, so was Lincoln." Lexa remarks with another laugh, receiving a halfhearted glare from Lincoln.

"Okay, I _have_ to hear this one." Anya says. "Give us the details, River!"

Lincoln looks to Octavia for permission, which she gives with a playful nod and wide and attentive eyes. He goes off into the story about getting cornered in the gym room after winning the football state championship by two of the cheerleaders from the _other_ team. Lexa, having heard the story a hundred times back in high school and even once more recently at the club, turns away from Clarke to focus on the spaghetti again. When Lincoln finishes the story, the game starts back up, and Clarke goes back to join the group. When Lexa finishes, she makes Clarke a bowl, making sure it's neat and pretty before calling everyone else up to "get their own shit".

To Lexa's surprise, the meal is absolutely delicious, and many of them go back for seconds and even thirds until the large pot of spaghetti is wiped clean.  
It isn't long after the last bowl of spaghetti is set in the sink that everyone hopped right back into drinking and games, quickly deciding upon taking turns playing Maria Kart on the Nintendo 64 and betting on who would win the race. Lexa and Clarke take to bedroom for some much wanted privacy once the people from the room beside them come by and tell them to be quieter, only to end up joining in on the drinking and gaming.

In the bedroom, Clarke and Lexa lie in bed, Clarke straddling the brunette in a heavy make out session. When Clarke's hands start to roam further down her body and to the start of her shorts, Lexa has to pull her hands away and stop the kiss.

"I just started my period." Lexa explains with a dark but disappointed look in her eyes that vanishes quickly once her own hands pull at Clarke's borrowed shorts. "I will happily take care of my girl, though."

Lexa leans up and kisses Clarke's neck softly, hitting the right spot on the sensitive flesh that makes the blonde shiver with delight and let out a breathy moan. Unfortunately, Clarke pushes Lexa away gently.

"It looks like I synced with you." Clarke says, sad but amused. "I just started mine today."

Lexa looks up at Clarke in silence for a moment before they burst into laughter together. "You know you syncing with me means I'm the Alpha in this relationship, right?" Lexa teases.

"Oh please," Clarke says, smacking her palm against Lexa's shoulder, a big playful grin widening her lips. "Says the one being topped right now."

Lexa raises her eyebrows at Clarke's challenge and smirks slyly before flipping their positions in one quick, smooth motion. Clarke lets out a lively laugh that makes Lexa's heart stutter. The happiness on Clarke's face and the brightness in her blue eyes meant only for Lexa right now makes her feel like the luckiest woman in the world.

"You were saying?" Lexa says with a crooked smile.

Clarke's smile fades and she just stares up at Lexa with her lips parted and curved upward. Lexa has the desire to kiss those lips, so she leans down and lightly presses her own to them. Clarke's lips are so soft and full and they fit so perfectly together like two pieces of a puzzle, and Lexa thinks it's a sign. Clarke smells of strawberry lip balm, alcohol, and spaghetti, and Lexa loves it.

She feels Clarke smile into the kiss, and before she knows it, she's pushed back onto the bed and pinned down by soft hands and thick thighs. Clarke sports a victorious smile and leans in so she's just a breath away from Lexa's face. "I was saying." And she kisses Lexa once more before laying her head in the crook of Lexa's neck. Lexa gives her the win, but only because she absolutely loves the feeling of Clarke cuddling into her like she's a puppy finding comfort in the lap of its person.

_I'm her person_ , Lexa thinks. _God that sounds fucking weird, stop that, Lexa._

She's deep in her thoughts and the feeling of Clarke's finger drawing circles on her clavicle, when Clarke speaks in a hushed tone. "I needed this so much." Lexa doesn't say anything, waiting in case she has more to say, instead. "I've been so focused on these projects and papers. You know, I actually forgot to eat for two days straight because I was in the studio the whole time. And then you offered to cook for me, and it was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. You literally could have made macaroni and cheese and I would have been happy with it. You don't know how much this means to me, Lexa."

Lexa presses a kiss to Clarke's forehead. "It's nothing. I wanted to see you and I wanted to do something for you. You needed a little break from all the school stuff, even if just for a bit."

"You're perfect, you know that?"

Lexa lets out a quiet laugh. They don't say anything for a while, just appreciating the comfortable silence. Lexa thinks there's no better time than now to ask Clarke to be her girlfriend, but she suddenly feels nervous about it, for some reason. She opens her mouth, ready to just ask, when Clarke lifts up from her chest and looks down at Lexa.

"You've been deployed more times than you told me one our first date." Clarke says. Lexa nods her head. "Where have you been?"

"I can't tell you."

"Oh, classified, huh?" Lexa nods again. Clarke looks to the wall for a moment, thinking about something, before she looks back down with a childish smile. "Iraq?" She asks. Lexa just stares at her, expression non changing. "Iran?" She tries again, receiving the same response: nothing. Clarke pouts, trying to think of other questions. "Have you been out in the battle?" Nothing. "Have you... killed anyone?"

Lexa barely even blinks at any of the questions Clarke shoots at her, but Clarke doesn't mind. She doesn't really expect to get answers, she just enjoys teasing Lexa. "You know, I bet you're fantastic at poker. You've got the best poker face I've ever seen. You could probably beat Marcus."

At that, Lexa finally reacts. She scrunches her eyebrows and tilts her head. "Marcus?"

"My mom's boyfriend. He was military too. Why do you all have such intimidating looks? Do they teach you that in Basic or something?" Clarke laughs a little. The question leaves Lexa surprised.

"Do I intimidate you, Clarke?"

Clarke cocks her head to the side. "You used to. Not so much anymore. You're sweet and kind and gentle. But in the beginning, and at the club the first night... Very intimidating."

"Well of course I had to be intimidating at the club, how else would I have gotten that guy away from you?" Lexa laughs and Clarke joins in. She jumps a bit on top of Lexa, surprising the woman bellow her, and Clarke looks down with a big smile.

"So you hid in a shrub, huh?"

"Oh my god." Lexa groans, covering her face with her hands, all thoughts of asking Clarke pushed to the back of her mind. "It was so long ago, and I don't even remember most of the night!"

"Body shots, blacking out, hiding from the cops... That sounds like a night I've had quite a few times, being a college girl with a frat boy best friend and party animal roommates. Tell me more!"

"Ugh, fine." Lexa chuckles. "As long as you promise not to tell the others."

Clarke brings out her pinky for Lexa to take. "I promise. Cross my heart."

"It was a start of the summer party at this one kid's out. This really rich and popular kid and his older sister; he was a total douchebag, but he hosted some pretty awesome parties when his parents would go on cruises and left him alone, which was very often. It was mostly college students there, but there were loads of kids from school too. I don't remember _much_ of the night, but I remember playing beer pong with some of the college kids, taking way too many body shots off of John's sister, and jumping into the pool. The cops came early on in the night to tell them to turn the music down a little, but me being pretty drunk by then, jumped into one of the bushes. I blame Lincoln. That dick told me they were going to come in check IDs and cart off the underage drinkers to jail."

"Oh my god, that's just perfect." Clarke laughs when Lexa finishes her story. "That is just priceless. I wish I could have seen it!"

"I actually had sex for the first time the weekend after that with his sister." Lexa says, reminiscing.

"What???" Clarke gawks at the woman bellow her. "The college girl??"

Lexa nods with a smug smile on her face. "Yep. Kaitlyn. Smokin' hot. In John's bed, actually."

"You're horrible!" Clarke lightly smack's Lexa's chest, her mouth open in incredulity.

"He was an ass!" Lexa defends. "He called me an orphan butch faggot in front of the whole school right before summer vacation. So his sister called me up one day when he was out with some friends, and we had sex on his bed."

"Just like that? For your first time?"

Lexa shrugged. "I didn't want to make a big deal out of my first time. And I had the biggest crush on her."

"What an asshole." Clarke says about the kid. "I'll have to kick his ass if I ever see him."

Lexa laughs lightly. "I think the look on his face after he found out what we did was enough payback. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"How was your first time?"

Clarke quirks a brow at her. "With a girl or with a guy?"

Lexa scrunches up her face in (somewhat) joking disgust. "Ew, straight sex." She earns another smack from the blonde. "Both."

"Well, my first time with a guy was with Finn."

"You mean that two-timing fuckboy?" Lexa frowns. Clarke nods.

"I thought I was in love. It was in my bedroom when my parents were both at work. He was sweet about it. When we were done, he left, saying he had some homework he had to do. He was actually just going to Raven's to have sex with her."

"Wow..." Is all Lexa can say. Clarke shrugs indifferently.

"I was really drunk for my first time with a girl. Her name was Lola. That's all I really remember from that, though. So I guess both of my first times were really crappy. At least with Finn, I met one of my best friends, right?"

"But I mean, that must have been hard for you." Lexa says gently.

Clarke smiles, entwining her fingers into Lexa's and bringing their hands up to rest on either side of the bed by Lexa's head. "Well you are the first person I been with exclusively since then. I guess I have a problem with trusting people in relationships now, so I just never put myself in a situation where I could be cheated on again."

"But you trust me enough." Lexa says.

Clarke nods and gives her a small smile. "I do."

 

The next day, Lexa wakes up with blonde hair in her face and the smell of vanilla taking up her senses. She fights for more sleep, just to stay in the position of her arm wrapped around Clarke's bare waist. A loud clashing noise in the main room, however, has Lexa awake and curious. Lexa exasperatedly climbs out of bed, careful not to wake Clarke, and heads out of the room to see what the commotion is.

Raven stands in the kitchen, refrigerator open and head dipped low to look inside, while Costia is putting a pot back into the cupboard.

"What the hell is going on?" Lexa grumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"What does it look like is going on?" Costia asks. "We're about to make some breakfast.

"Do you want to join us, Lex?" Raven asks with a weirdly happy smile. "Maybe make some coffee?"

Lexa starts up the coffee maker and leans against the counter, watching Raven and Costia make breakfast. The two of them are in an oddly good mood far too early in the morning to not be suspicious to Lexa, and she watches them with a weary but careful look.

"What's got you too in such a giddy mood?" She asks after a while.

To her surprise, they don't deny Lexa's observation and Raven even turns around, wearing a big smile, and points toward the couch. Cautiously, Lexa makes her way to the couch. Lying there is Octavia, drool dripping down her cheek and makeup smeared all over her face. The sight has Lexa almost bursting into laughter and waking her up, but she quietly turns away and walks back to the tiny kitchen, where the other two women are silently laughing.

"Costia put the makeup on her." Raven explains. "I put her thumb in her mouth at first, but she pulled it back out and just started drooling everywhere."

"You guys are horrible." Lexa says, seriousness nowhere in sight.

"Hey." Clarke's husky morning voice calls from Lexa's bedroom doorway. She shuffled into the kitchen and wraps her arms around Lexa from the back, planting a kiss to the back of her neck before peeking over her shoulder and noticing the coffee. At the sight, she practically pushes Lexa away and takes one of the cups meant for the first three women to wake up, and pours herself a cup.

"Alright," Costia says, staring at Clarke from a distance. "Note to self: don't block Clarke from her coffee."

When everyone is finally awake and eating breakfast, they start planning the day out. More than half of the group requests going downtown.

"Why?" Costia asks. "Downtown is so far away from here."

Anya shrugs innocently. "It's got a lot of Pokestops and I've got three eggs I need to incubate."

With the mention of Pokemon Go, the group bursts into talk of their teams and the catches.

"Am I the only one that doesn't play the game...?" Costia asks, face scrunched up as she looks at everyone around her.

"In the world? Probably." Monroe says.

"My mom even plays." Clarke says, pulling out her phone to show them a screenshot her mother took.

"What team are you on?" Echo asks.

"Valor of course." Lexa says, high fiving Anya. Octavia brings out her hand to join them, along with Monroe.

Clarke boos at them. "Team Mystic all the way."

"Same." Raven says, Echo nodding in agreement.

"I guess I'm the only Instinct?" Luna asks, rolling her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure Lincoln is Instinct too." Lexa says. "Ask him when we swoop him up to go downtown."

At that moment, a chorus of ringtones fills the room up. The soldiers all pull their phones out, knowing very well it's a group message that could only mean one thing. Lexa unlocks her phone and checks the message. Anya groans beside her.

From 1ST SG:

FTX in 2 weeks.

"Well shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little fun chapter for you guys today with some fun stories and games and a Pokemon Go cameo, because it's such a big thing now! There are things about the military that I don't know how are done, like bring told about FTX, so I just kinda make it up as I go! I'm sure they don't just get texts about them, but oh well! They have more of a professional encounter for it that you don't get to read. ^.^  
> Next chapter is one I've been looking forward to writing since before I actually started writing the story. I'll try and get it written quickly!  
> Also, the song Lexa is listening to when working out in the beginning of the chapter is Dirty Pretty by In This Moment. Check it out, I love that song.  
> Find me on Tumblr @ GayAssHeda

**Author's Note:**

> I've already started writing the next chapter (because I was going to add it in this chapter, but I just wanna hurry up and put this up) so it should be up fairly soon. I'm also working on my story Up In Smoke so check that out and I've got a lot of Tumblr one shot recs that will come out slowly (I probably won't post them all here so follow me on Tumblr @ itsthecommander) but I've had a migraine for 5 days straight that is probably due to excessive computer use sooooo yeah.
> 
> Comment and let me know what you think! I'm actually joining the Army later this year but for now I'm only getting my Army info from my brother-in-law so if I get some military shit wrong, my bad it's not real life anyway.


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